Richard Holden, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the Department of Transport, has responded to the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old Elianne Andam in Croydon.
Speaking to Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster on Breakfast, Holden shared his thoughts on the stabbing which took place yesterday morning, and urged the government to increase sentencing for knife related crimes.
Holden said: “It's so tragic, you know, another young life lost to knife crime, and it is an absolutely shocking case and there's been a huge amount of work in this space over the last few years. I think back in 2016, the government banned zombie knives, in 2019 banned cyclone knives.
“The Prime Minister's already talked about what we can do more to increase sentencing for people trying to illegally import them, because they've been banned for sale in the UK. So some of these are being smuggled in illegally. We're going to quadruple the minimum sentencing on those.
Holden continued: “I just think for the friends and family of this young lady, just a horrendous, horrendous case of violence on our streets, and I'm glad that the perpetrator has been caught and will face justice.”
Webster asked Holden about his stance on stop and search, asking: “Do you want to see more stop and search?”
Holden replied: “I'm certainly not against that. There are powers there, and local police forces can use them, when necessary, when there are issues on the ground. We need to get these knives off the street. We've banned them obviously from sale in the UK, and this the zombie knives back in 2016, in 2019 we banned the cyclone knives.
“We're constantly tightening up that regulation and we're trying to and we're doing everything we can to also increase the sentences for people illegally importing them as well.
“But this is about making sure also that where if you know somebody's out there with a knife, that you report them to the police or somebody you're concerned about, we have to stop these knives on the street. It's totally unacceptable. And you can see from this horrendous case the tragic consequences of people that carrying knives in the street.”
Watch the interview in full above.
Tune in to Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel, Monday to Thursday from 6am, only on GB News.
