‘I was ready to stab whoever tried to stab me’: The ex-gang members waging a war on knife crime
“There’s a code that you don’t speak to the police, so you have to find another way to protect yourself,” says Daniel.
We are in a drill music recording studio in Birmingham. We have come here to talk frankly about why teenagers carry knives.
This is a city with a history of gang violence going back decades. But in more recent years younger people have been drawn into the postcode wars. Battles are fought over drugs and territory.
“A knife is one of the easiest things you can get,” Daniel, 27, says. “Every person has a knife in the house.”
Data reveals a shocking increase in the number of teenagers killed with a knife or sharp instrument.
In the year to March 2024, there were 53 teenage victims aged 13-19 in England and Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics. That is a 240% increase on the 22 teenage victims a decade earlier.
And some of the people dying are even younger.
In January, a 12-year-old was stabbed to death in Birmingham.
Leo Ross was fatally stabbed in the stomach as he walked home from school.
The government says it has a “mission” to halve knife crime over a decade.
These young people are not optimistic. They blame poverty, austerity and a lack of opportunities for driving teenagers growing up in the city to a life of crime.
Devontae
Devontae
Devontae, 19, has witnessed fatal stabbings. He says it’s “very common” for people his age to carry knives.
“You’ve got postcode wars, postcode wars everywhere,” he says, referring to the battles fought between gangs protecting their territory.
“There’s this whole war going on that many people wouldn’t be aware of,” he explains.
“There are kids that, like, can’t even go to the shop without having the worry of getting stabbed… it’s getting beyond a joke.”
He adds: “It’s getting passed down from generation to generation and I don’t think it’ll stop. I reckon it’ll get worse.”
Daniel
Daniel
“My own experience is I’ve been stabbed and I’ve been shot,” says Daniel, pointing to scars – one on his finger, others on his legs.
He says he began carrying a knife at the age of 14, around the time he was first stabbed.
He says it was “for my own protection, not because I wanted to be a gangster and not because I want to hurt nobody or scare anybody but for my own protection”.
He says he saw life on the streets as “it’s me or you and it’s not going to be me”.
“A knife is one of the easiest things you can get. It’s like a fork, right?
Daniel has a scar on his hand
“Everyone, every single person has a knife… Some people might take one out to try to stab someone. Someone might take one out just to make sure that they’re safe”.
He ended up in prison. Since his release last year, he’s been mentoring teenagers, trying to steer them away from getting involved in street crime.
But he understands why so many get drawn in by the money they can earn selling drugs.
“Everyone likes the finer things of life”, he says, adding: “Nine to five is not buying that. And that’s just a simple fact.”
“The youths don’t want that. So when you’re telling the youths to leave the life of crime, you’ve got to give them an alternative”.
William
William
“I carried a knife from the age of 13. I got involved in a local gang growing up in central Birmingham,” says William, who is now 23.
He says he decided to start carrying a weapon after he was stabbed in the leg during a fight.
“The only way I could still be there and not be at risk of getting stabbed again is to be ready to stab whoever tried to stab me,” he explains.
Over the last decade, he’s seen more young people arming themselves.
“Some of it is literally the same as myself – protection. Other people are carrying them because they just simply don’t know how to have a fistfight.
“And then you’ve just got the ones that carry it for the image. And social media and stuff like that has become sort of popular to be sort of the bad kid.”
He believes there’s no one explanation for why more teenagers carry knives but says “the biggest reason [is] the government. There’s no funding”.
“When I was a kid, there was funding, there was youth centres… Now there’s none in my local catchment.”
He says poverty and the cost of living crisis are to blame too.
“Parents having to work stupidly long hours – 40 to 60 hours a week – just to pay rent with the rent prices,” he says. “So children are going home to empty houses.”
Rachel Warren set up Birmingham Says No
‘We weren’t able to pursue the police route’
Rachel Warren set up the charity Birmingham Says No to campaign against knife crime and youth violence after her son was robbed at knifepoint when he was 15.
“Obviously that left me feeling very upset and angry,” she says.
“It was very difficult to know what to do. We weren’t able to pursue the police route, obviously for fear of reprisal.”
She says knife crime is such a complex issue that “for any organisation to say, you know, that they could solve knife crime, it’s not realistic. It’s never going to be realistic”.
A recent report by the YMCA found local authority expenditure on youth services has fallen by 73% in England since 2010.
The report also revealed there are 54% fewer local authority-run youth centres in England compared with 2011-2012.
The vice chair of the Local Government Association’s safer and stronger communities board, Councillor Tom Hunt, told Sky News: “Councils work hard to provide services that help to prevent people being drawn into serious, violent crime, and have a key role to play in responding when it occurs.
“However, ongoing financial pressures have had an impact on councils’ ability to provide services that can help address this issue.
“We are working with the government in developing the Young Futures Programme, but councils need resources to provide youth services”.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told us: “Knife crime has a devastating impact on families and communities across our country. Our mission to halve knife crime over a decade will be delivered through tougher enforcement and stronger prevention.”
Donald Trump may be denied the honour of addressing parliament on his state visit to the UK later this year, with no formal request yet submitted for him to be given that privilege.
It comes after President Macron’s successful state visit this week, in which he was invited to speak in front of both Houses of Parliament.
Sky News has been told the Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, hasn’t so far received a request to invite the US president to speak in parliament when he is expected to visit in September.
It was confirmed to MPs who have raised concerns about the US president being allowed to address both houses.
Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow and Gateshead East, wrote to the speaker in April asking him to stop Mr Trump from addressing parliament, and tabled an early-day motion outlining her concerns.
“I was happy to see Macron here but feel very differently about Trump,” she said.
“Trump has made some very uncomfortable and worrying comments around the UK government, democracy, the Middle East, particularly around equalities and, of course, Ukraine.
“So, I think there are many reasons why, when we’re looking at a state visit, we should be looking at why they’re being afforded that privilege. Because, of course, it is a privilege for somebody to come and address both of the houses.”
But the timing of the visit may mean that any diplomatic sensitivities, or perceptions of a snub, could be avoided.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron addressed parliament during his state visit this month
Lord Ricketts, a former UK ambassador to France, pointed out that parliament isn’t sitting for much of September, and that could help resolve the issue.
In 2017, he wrote a public letter questioning the decision to give Donald Trump his first state visit, saying it put Queen Elizabeth II in a “very difficult position”.
Parliament rises from 16 September until 13 October due to party conferences.
The dates for the state visit haven’t yet been confirmed by Buckingham Palace or the government.
However, they have not denied that it will take place in September, after Mr Trump appeared to confirm they were planning to hold the state visit that month. The palace confirmed this week that the formal planning for his arrival had begun.
Mr Trump has said he believes the trip to the UK will take place in September. Pic: Reuters
When asked about parliamentary recess potentially solving the issue, Ms Osborne said: “It may be a way of dealing with it in a very diplomatic way… I don’t know how much control we have over Trump’s diary.
“But if we can manoeuvre it in a way that means that the House isn’t sitting, then that seems like a good solution, maybe not perfect, because I’d actually like him to know that he’s not welcome.”
A message from the speaker’s office, seen by Sky News, says: “Formal addresses to both Houses of Parliament are not automatically included in the itinerary of such a state visit.
“Whether a foreign head of state addresses parliament, during a state visit or otherwise, is part of the planning decisions.”
Mr Trump made his first state visit to the UK in June 2019 during his first presidency. File pic: Reuters
It’s understood that if the government agrees to a joint address to parliament, the Lord Chamberlain’s office writes to the two speakers, on behalf of the King, to ask them to host this.
It will be Mr Trump’s second state visit.
During his first, in 2019, he didn’t address parliament, despite the fact that his predecessor, Barack Obama, was asked to do so.
It was unclear if this was due to the fact John Bercow, the speaker at the time, made it clear he wasn’t welcome to do so.
However, it didn’t appear to dampen Mr Trump’s excitement about his time with the Royal Family.
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Speaking earlier this year, he described his state visit as “a fest” adding “it’s an honour… I’m a friend of Charles, I have great respect for King Charles and the family, William; we have really just a great respect for the family. And I think they’re setting a date for September.”
It is expected that, like Mr Macron, the pageantry for his trip this time will revolve around Windsor, with refurbishment taking place at Buckingham Palace.
Fuel to the engines of the Air India plane that crashed last month appears to have cut off shortly after take-off, a preliminary report has found.
According to the report switches in the cockpit that controlled fuel moved to a “CUTOFF” position.
It said: “Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of one second.
“The Engine N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off.”
The crash site. Pic: AAIB
There was then confusion in the cockpit. In the voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he “cut off”. The other pilot responds that he did not do so.
There were no conclusions as to how the switches were moved.
One of the engines was able to be restarted, but could not reverse the plane’s deceleration, the report found.
“At this stage of investigation, there are no recommended actions to Boeing 787-8 and/or GE GEnx-1B engine operators and manufacturers,” India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in the report.
A diagram in the report shows how the plane crashed into a building. Pic: AAIB
No significant bird activity was observed in the vicinity of the plane’s flight path, the report said. The aircraft started to lose altitude before crossing the airport perimeter wall, it added.
The plane plummeted into a busy area, killing 241 passengers and 19 others on the ground while incinerating everything around it.
The AAIB’s report is based on the initial findings of the probe, marking 30 days since the crash.
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Liverpool have retired the number 20 shirt in honour of Diogo Jota – the first time it has made such a gesture.
The club said it was a “unique tribute to a uniquely wonderful person” and the decision was made in consultation with his wife and family.
The number 20 will be retired at all levels, including the men’s and women’s first teams and academy squads.
A statement said: “It was the number he wore with pride and distinction, leading us to countless victories in the process – and Diogo Jota will forever be Liverpool Football Club’s number 20.”
The club called it a “recognition of not only the immeasurable contribution our lad from Portugal made to the Reds’ on-pitch successes over the last five years, but also the profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them”.
Jota’s wife joined Liverpool players to view tributes at Anfield on Friday. Pic: Liverpool FC
Pic: Liverpool FC
Newly-married Jota died alongside his brother when his Lamborghini crashed in northern Spain on 3 July.
Police said this week that all the evidence so far suggests Jota was the one driving the vehicle.
Liverpool teammates joined members of Jota’s family, including his wife Rute, at a huge memorial site outside Anfield on Friday.
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A fan looks at messages on a memorial wall near Anfield. Pic: Reuters
Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson were among players at the funeral. Pic: Reuters
The star’s funeral took place last weekend, with Liverpool colleagues and members of the Portuguese national team in attendance.
Reds captain Virgil van Dijk carried a shirt bearing the number 20 made from flowers.
Liverpool players returned to the club’s training ground for the start of pre-season on Tuesday.
Their first game since Jota’s death will be on Sunday when they play a friendly away against Preston North End.
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