Knife crime

Debate between Wendy Morton and Dan Jarvis

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central) (Lab)]

This has been an important and constructive debate. I commend the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton) for securing it and the Backbench Business Committee for granting it. The right hon. Lady gave an excellent speech. I was particularly struck by what she said about “The Knife Angel” in her constituency. As she said, it is an incredibly poignant symbol reflecting on violence and knife crime.

[Wendy Morton]

Perhaps I could have been clearer. For absolute clarity, “The Knife Angel” is in Walsall borough but not in my constituency—I am on one side of the borough. It is in the town of Walsall, in the constituency of the right hon. Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz).

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for making that clarification, but her point was important none the less.

Often, we talk of the perpetrators of knife crime—it is right that we do—but we should never forget that it is too often young people who are the victims. As Members of this House, we owe it to the victims and their loved ones to come up with solutions to this epidemic, and to ensure that no child or parent faces the tragic consequences of knife crime on our streets. In that spirit, there have been a number of considered and thoughtful contributions to the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall (Florence Eshalomi) spoke movingly about the trauma that knife crime causes her constituents and about the pain experienced by the victim’s family. The hon. Member for Aylesbury (Rob Butler) effectively brought to bear his long experience of the criminal justice system. He made an important point about tackling the causes to avoid repetition.

I will take this opportunity to tell the tragic story of Ronan Kanda, and his family’s campaign for justice. I know that the shadow policing Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon Central (Sarah Jones), met the family alongside their local MP, my right hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South East (Mr McFadden), to learn about Ronan’s story. Ronan, a beloved son and brother, was just 16 years old when he was killed while walking home in Wolverhampton. Just a few yards from his front door, Ronan was attacked from behind by two 16-year-olds carrying a machete and a ninja sword. Ronan was stabbed twice and suffered wounds to his back and chest. Tragically, he died at the scene. It was later revealed that the perpetrators of this heinous act had mistaken Ronan for someone else—