Help Shropshire's knife angel take flight to capital

London should follow the lead of other UK cities in inviting the Knife Angel into its centre, Clive Knowles, the man behind the Save a Life, Surrender your Knife campaign has said.

A petition is calling for the giant sculpture to be displayed in Trafalgar Square as part of the symbolic fight against knife crime.

The angel was created with knives collected by police forces across the country, including those in the West Midlands, Staffordshire and in the West Mercia Police force area. The Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, David Jamieson, visited the Ironwork Centre earlier this year to see the sculpture and praise the amnesty bins the centre makes.

So far 70,000 people have signed the petition, but 100,000 names are needed before the matter is discussed by parliament.

Mr Knowles, chairman of the British Ironwork Centre at Oswestry, where the sculpture was created, is now appealing to those who have not yet given their backing to step up and do so.

The issue of knife crime has increasingly come to the fore over the past few years, with more than 6,000 readers of the Star signing up to a petition in August after it was revealed that horrifying long-reach machetes were being legally sold for just £20.

Walsall police and civic leaders have also expressed interest in hosting the sculpture while Wolverhampton council now has knife amnesty bins made at the Ironwork Centre

Mr Knowles’ plea for people to back the petition comes as the poignant sculpture, made by artist Archie Bradley, stands in front of Liverpool Cathedral over Christmas and into January.

The cathedral team and Everton Football Club helped take the sculpture to Merseyside for the festive period. A national services of remembrance for the victims of knife crime is also being held at the cathedral.

Mr Knowles said the church across the UK was backing the campaign.

He said: “At the end of January the angel will go from Liverpool to Hull Cathedral, with the help of Humberside Police. And Coventry has asked that it go there for Easter.” He said two cathedrals in London also wanted to host the sculpture.

“It is fantastic news,” he said. “However our goal is still to see the Knife Angel take its place in Trafalgar Square and we are appealing to people to sign the petition to push the number of signatures over 100,000 so get it debated in parliament.” Ben Knowles, managing director of the Ironwork Centre, praised the people of Liverpool for taking the sculpture to their hearts. “There is a wonderful community spirit in Liverpool,” he said. The father and son said that they had met many families of young men killed in knife attacks over the past two years.

“They told how families had travelled to Shropshire to see the angel and had inscribed personal messages on one of the blades. “When you meet the families and see their grief, that is irreparable, the desire to do something to stop others for being affected just grows and grows,” Clive Knowles said. “Each time news of another death comes on the radio or television, I think of a new family going through that grief and my heart goes out to them.

“The church is backing the anti-knife campaign, it is time our politicians and our civic leaders did the same.”

Ben said that Christmas was a particularly difficult time of year for the families who have been affected by knife crime.

He said: “It is a poignant time, a time for reflection and as a father looking forward to Christmas I can not imagine what they are going through.”

Visit surrenderyourknife.co.uk

Alarm as fatal stabbings still on the rise

An alarming increase in fatal stabbings in the West Midlands continued during 2018 as more young lives were lost to senseless violence.

Home Office figures released earlier in the year revealed the West Midlands murder rate was at its highest for a decade – and with every passing killing on our streets it is beginning to feel more like the norm. Several brutal stabbings in the region have put the issue back at the forefront of politicians’ minds.

This sort of deadly violence is no longer just a Birmingham issue that some perhaps though it was and is spilling out into the wider region with an increasing regularity as stretched police forces have been kept busy with numerous murder investigations. It is also not simply an urban problem. Towns in Shropshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire are also seeing an increase in the use of knives.

Police chiefs have stepped up educational operations to try and deter knife crime but have bemoaned a lack of resources to try and tackle rising crime on the streets.

The Office for National Statistics said there were 79 murders in the wider region in the year to June 2018 – up 30 per cent from the previous year.

West Midlands Police dealt with 42 killings and there were 10 murders in the area covered by Staffordshire Police.

Recorded offences with blades rose six per cent in the last year to June 2018 across the West Midlands.