The mother of Barnaby Webber, who was one of three people killed in a knife attack in Nottingham last year, has called for the carrying of knives to be made illegal.
Asked about an amnesty ahead of a ban on certain types of zombie knives and machetes next month, Emma Webber told GB News: “I think that there are so many strands. It’s such a complex problem. We have an epidemic of knife crime in this country.
“America has gun crime, we have knife crime, and the legislation has to change. I think that there has to be some very challenging, searching questions about stop and search. It’s all parts of society that are affected.
“My son was walking home from a night out, and this is somebody [Valdo Calocane] who had stockpiled his weapons and had planned the attack, and he hid in the shadows for ten minutes waiting for my son. He then used a van an hour or so later to use it as a murder weapon.
“But then we’ve also got the other end of the spectrum. We’ve got young people carrying knives because they feel scared, because they feel they can’t leave the house without them, because they’re in county lines, or it’s drugs or it’s gang-related.
“We have to do something about it, because I don’t have the answers and I think changing a law is one thing. It must be illegal to carry a knife.”
In a discussion with Nana Akua, she added: “Every household in this country has a lethal weapon in their kitchen, and that’s the scary thing…I welcome any change, because if it saves one life, then it saves one life.
“But it’s not something we can just talk about. When the Government takes urgent action, we hear words, we hear sentences, and it’s almost like they’re white noise. It’s actions that count.
“We’re expecting to meet with Yvette Cooper over the next few weeks, we’ve already met with the Attorney General, he’s promised a public enquiry. We’ve met with Wes Streeting, and obviously in the past, we’ve met with Keir Starmer himself.
“We need to continue that but it’s hard because – when did we begin to grieve?
“I don’t know, but I’m not prepared to stop until the people that are responsible are held to account, but also until the public in our country are made safe.”