As we pulled back the hospital curtain, he was hunched over and clearly in pain.

He had climbed off the hospital bed to greet us with a polite smile, then hobbled back to lie down again.

Every breath was uncomfortable, but he wanted to share the horrible reality of knife crime.

“I’ve never in my life been stabbed so I don’t know how it’s meant to even feel,” he said.

“The pain came when I realised the blood’s just spitting out of the side of my rib cage and that’s when I started panicking.

“My lungs felt like they were filled with blood… I thought each breath that I take, I’m going to drown in my own blood.

“I just felt as though I was slowly slipping away.”

Paramedics helped save his life and got him to the hospital in Manchester.

Sky News cannot name the young victim or go into the details of the attack because the police are investigating his case.

We were alongside a support worker called Favour, who is part of a growing team called Navigators. They go into hospitals to help young victims of violence.

While checking on how his recovery is going, she gently asked what he wanted to do next.

“You should have the right to feel safe,” she said to him.

“So don’t blame yourself for what happened… we are going to be there to help you.”

‘Scarring and traumatic’

In a corridor outside the major trauma ward at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, Favour said: “They are often scared, often really tired from being in hospital.

“It does stay with you, not just for a couple of weeks, but it can go on for months, years, because it is something very scarring and traumatic.

“Having someone to talk to, being able to be very vulnerable with… that can lead you to find different spaces that are safe for you, can make a huge difference.”

In the adjacent Children’s Hospital in Manchester, we met the clinical lead at the Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit.

Dr Rachel Jenner is a senior consultant who expanded her emergency department work into the wider mission of violence reduction after treating one particular young stab victim.

“When he arrived at the hospital, he was obviously very distressed and stressed,” she said. “A little bit later on, when things were stable, I asked him if he wanted me to call his mum.

“When I asked that question, he just kind of physically crumpled on the bed and just looked like the vulnerable child that he was, and that was really impactful for me.”

‘Positive results’

The Violence Reduction Unit was established in 2019 with a commitment from the city’s authorities to work together better to prevent violence and deal with it efficiently when it occurs.

Dr Jenner still treats young knife crime victims, but revealed the number of stab-related admissions is falling in her hospital.

“The trend is downwards,” she confirmed. “We’ve definitely seen some positive results.”

The latest statistics in England and Wales show the number of hospital admissions for assault by a sharp object fell by 3% to 3,735 admissions in the year ending September 2024.

“We’re never complacent,” Dr Jenner said. “You reality check yourself all the time, because obviously if… someone gets stabbed, then it’s quite possible that I’ll be treating them.”

She said the Navigators are crucial to working with young patients.

“They have a really different way of engaging with young people, they’re much better at it than many other professionals,” she said.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all model, they actually wrap around that support according to circumstances… that’s a really positive improvement.”

Tacking violence ‘like infectious disease’

Dr Jenner added: “We try and take a public health approach to violence reduction. In the same way that we would address an infectious disease, if we can use those methods and principles to look at violence.

“Not just reacting when it happens, but actually looking at how we can prevent the disease of violence, that in the long term will have a bigger impact.”

The key is teamwork, Dr Jenner said. Collaboration between the police, community leaders, victim support, health workers and people in education has noticeably improved.

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The hospital also sends consultants into schools to teach pupils how to stop bleeds as part of an annual nationwide initiative that reaches 50,000 young people.

At a Stop The Bleed session in Bolton, Greater Manchester, we met 11 and 12-year-olds growing up with the threat of knife crime.

One Year 7 boy said: “There was a stabbing quite near where I live so it does happen, but it’s very crucial to learn how to stop this bleed and how to stop deaths.”

Another two friends talked about a boy their age who had been involved in an incident with a knife.

“No one would expect it for someone that young,” one said. “They’re just new to high school, fresh out of primary, and they shouldn’t just be doing that, too young.”

‘We are dealing with it every day’

Their school has decided to tackle the problem of knife crime head-on rather than pretend it isn’t affecting their pupils.

The pastoral lead at the school, Sanaa Karajada, told Sky News: “We are dealing with it every single day, so we have policies and procedures in place to prevent any escalations in our schools or in the community.

“It is very, very worrying and it’s upsetting that [students] are having to go through this, but you know we’ve got to be realistic… if we are shying away from it, we’re just saying it’s not a problem.

“But it is a problem within the community, it’s a problem in all of the UK.”

The government has pledged to halve knife crime within a decade.

These signs of progress may offer some hope, but there is still so much work to do.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the Glastonbury performances of Kneecap and Bob Vylan.

Police announced the decision on Monday afternoon after reviewing video footage and audio of both sets, which took place on Saturday.

It comes after the BBC said it regretted the decision not to pull the live stream for Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance, during which frontman Bobby Vylan shouted anti-IDF (Israel Defence Forces) chants.

The punk-rap duo have also had US visas revoked and been dropped by their US representative, United Talent Agency.

Later on Monday, as the story had made headlines throughout the day, drummer Bobbie Vylan released a video statement on Instagram, saying politicians who have spent time criticising the band should be “utterly ashamed” for giving “room” to this over other issues.

He also addressed what was said on stage, saying: “Regardless of how it was said, calling for an end to the slaughter of innocents is never wrong. To civilians of Israel, understand this anger is not directed at you, and don’t let your government persuade you that a call against an army is a call against the people.”

In a statement, Avon and Somerset Police said that after reviewing footage of both performances, further enquiries are required and a criminal investigation is now being undertaken.

“A senior detective has been appointed to lead this investigation,” a spokesperson said. “This has been recorded as a public order incident at this time while our enquiries are at an early stage.”

The force said the investigation will be “evidence-led and will closely consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes”.

“We have received a large amount of contact in relation to these events from people across the world and recognise the strength of public feeling,” it added. “There is absolutely no place in society for hate.”

What happened?

During Bob Vylan’s set, the duo performed in front of a screen that showed several messages, including one that said Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to “genocide”.

Bobby Vylan also led chants of “death to the IDF”.

The set was live streamed by the BBC as part of its Glastonbury coverage, but has not been made available on demand.

Politicians including the prime minister have criticised the performance. Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis said the chants “crossed a line” and that there was no place at the festival for “antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence”.

A BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster respected freedom of expression “but stands firmly against incitement to violence”.

They added: “The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves…

“The team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen.”

Media watchdog Ofcom said it was in talks with the BBC and that the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer” over the stream.

Irish-language rap trio Kneecap were on stage afterwards. Before their appearance at the festival, there had been calls for Glastonbury to remove them from the bill – as rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh (who performs as Mo Chara) is facing a terror charge, accused of displaying a flag in support of the proscribed group Hezbollah at a gig in London last November.

Glastonbury organisers kept them on the line-up, but the BBC chose not to stream their set live. An edited version was later made available on demand.

On stage, the band led chants of “f*** Keir Starmer”.

O hAnnaidh’s bandmate Naoise O Caireallain (Moglai Bap) said they would “start a riot outside the courts” for O hAnnaidh’s next appearance, before clarifying: “No riots, just love and support, and support for Palestine.”

Hundreds of people turned out in protest for his first court appearance earlier this month.

After the police investigation was announced, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy criticised the “appalling and unacceptable” scenes at Glastonbury and said the government would not tolerate antisemitism.

She said she had called BBC director-general Tim Davie after the broadcast of Bob Vylan’s set to find out why it had aired, and why the feed had not been cut.

“I expect answers to these questions without delay,” she said.

Ms Nandy said she had spoken to members of the Jewish community, including attendees at Glastonbury, who said they were concerned by imagery and slogans and ended up creating their own “safe space”.

Christopher Landau, the US deputy secretary of state, said the band had been banned from the US ahead of a tour later this year due to their “hateful tirade” at the festival.

Bob Vylan were set to perform in Chicago, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in the autumn. They are due to perform at Radar Festival in Manchester on Saturday and Boardmasters, a surfing and music festival in Newquay, Cornwall, in August.

Sharing a statement on Instagram after the Glastonbury set, Bobby Vylan said: “Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.

“As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.”

The war in Gaza, which has continued for more than 18 months, began after Hamas militants launched attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, more than 400 of them during the fighting in Gaza.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has devastated the enclave and killed around 56,500 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

A 92-year-old man has been found guilty of raping and murdering a woman born 133 years ago – in what’s thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial.

Ryland Headley was convicted at Bristol Crown Court of killing 75-year-old mother of two, Louisa Dunne, at her home back in June 1967.

Latest DNA technology – as well as matching palm prints taken at the scene more than 57 years ago – led a jury to find Headley guilty on both charges.

Detective Inspector Dave Marchant from Avon and Somerset Police said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.

“This investigation was a blend of new and old forensic techniques – DNA being the latest and greatest…but we were able to utilise that original investigative material,” he said.

On the morning of 28 June 1967, neighbours noticed that Louisa Dunne, born in 1892, wasn’t standing on her doorstep as usual.

They found her lying dead inside her home in the Easton area of Bristol – bruised, blood coming from one ear, vomit in her mouth and her underwear around her ankles.

The police investigation at the time found traces of semen on intimate swabs and on the skirt she was wearing, but it was around 20 years before DNA testing.

A palm print was also found on one of the rear windows inside the house.

“The original investigation was, by all accounts, massive,” DI Marchant told Sky News.

“Over 19,000 palm print eliminations were taken from men and boys in the Bristol area and beyond. Over 8,000 house-to-house records were completed and several thousand statements were taken,” he added.

But Headley – in his 30s at the time – lived just outside the ring of houses where palm prints were taken.

A post-mortem examination found she had “extensive abrasions” on her face and that the most likely explanation was that a hand had been pressed against her mouth.

Around 20 crates of evidence were stored in Avon and Somerset Police HQ for nearly six decades alongside other cold cases.

The case was reviewed in 2024, with new DNA testing on the sperm found on the skirt Ms Dunne had been wearing.

Investigating officers were told the results showed a DNA match on the national database that was “a billion times” more likely to belong to Headley than anyone else.

“I had to read that email several times to fully digest the content of it and believe what I was reading. Then it was, okay, game on, let’s get this investigation going,” said DI Marchant.

Headley was arrested at his home in Ipswich in November 2024 – he did not give evidence during the trial.

The jury heard that forensic experts had matched Headley’s palm print, taken on arrest, to that of the one found on Ms Dunne’s window at the time.

The judge allowed the prosecution to raise the fact that Headley had already spent time in jail for committing two other rapes, around a decade after Ms Dunne’s murder.

Both those cases involved attacks against elderly women in similar circumstances.

Prosecutor Anna Vigars KC told the jury these offences demonstrate to all of us that Headley “has a tendency” to act in exactly the same way that we say that he did back in 1967.

“In other words, to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, to target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence,” she said.

Speaking before the verdict, Louisa Dunne’s granddaughter recalled the moment police told her of progress in the cold case, nearly six decades on: “She said, ‘this is about your grandmother’, and I said, ‘have they caught him?’ It came out, I never thought I’d say anything like that. Have you caught him? and she said, ‘we have a suspect’.”

She described the impact of the attack on her grandmother and that a conviction would bring relief:

“I accepted it. I accepted that some murders just never get solved. And some people just have to live with that emptiness and that sadness.

“I think it’s appalling, absolutely appalling. The poor woman – it must have been absolutely terrifying. And the reality of a rape, I don’t like thinking about, I don’t think anybody does,” she added.

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The Crown Prosecution Service told Sky News that it was not aware of a cold case with a longer period between the offence and trial.

DI Marchant told Sky News it demonstrates the value of reviewing such cases: “I think this investigation shows you should never give up.

“You should never look at an investigation and say, ‘oh, it’s too old, it happened X number of years ago’ and have an arbitrary cut off point. At the time we re-instigated it in 2024… there was a chance a suspect could still be alive and as it turned out – he was.”