A prominent South Yorkshire campaigner who saw a person get stabbed to death when he was just a teenager says that more needs to be done to tackle knife crime.
It comes as figures show that knife crime is on the rise. In the year ending September 2023 it increased by 48,716 offences, that’s 5 per cent more compared to the year before.
Figures for England and Wales also showed that 17 per cent of knife crime offenders in the last year were under 18 years old.
In South Yorkshire, Ministry of Justice data shows two-thirds of cautions or convictions for knife crime in the area were handed to first-time offenders.
Campaigner who saw a person stabbed to death demands clamp down on knife crime
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Anthony Olisende founded the charity Always An Alternative after growing up surrounded by knife crime in Sheffield.
“When I was 15, I saw someone get murdered. They got stabbed to death unfortunately, but what was strange, it didn’t really affect me because I was around that kind of stuff all the time growing up. Violence was normal, conflict was normal,” Anthony told GB News.
“I came from a low-income area and saw a lot of criminal activity, a lot of people did that to make money and there were fewer opportunities and I saw that as a young person, so I did it, but it didn’t make me feel good about myself.
“Every day I’m looking over my shoulder, every day somebody’s getting locked up or somebody’s getting injured. Surely life can’t just be that and I had a few lucky escapes myself and I thought ‘I’m worth more than this, this can’t continue to happen, I’ve got kids now and I don’t want to not be there for them’ so I made that decision.
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Anthony Olisende wants knives off the streets of the Steel City
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“I realised that people might say you’d have to go on a certain path, but that there’s always an alternative option.”
Anthony Olisende wants knives off the streets of the Steel City and launched an event at Showroom Cinema to raise awareness.
Keaton Naylor, 17, featured in one of the short films that was shown and experienced the pain of losing a loved one to knife crime.
His best friend Loui Phillips murdered at the age of 15 by a stranger, Kyle Pickles, then 17, formerly of Kirkstall Road, Barnsley, during an unprovoked attack in South Yorkshire in August 2021.
South Yorkshire Police said Loui had been stabbed in the chest with such force the handle of the knife snapped off, leaving the blade lodged in his chest. His killer, Pickles, who found Loui's location on Snapchat, was at the time told he must serve a minimum of 17 years in prison.
Loui Phillips was murdered at the age of 15 by a stranger
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Keaton Naylor told GB News: “Ever since I lost my best friend, it’s made me realise knives really aren’t needed. There’s so much more to life than carrying a knife, well just a weapon in general.
“He [his murdered friend] was training for Barnsley football club, he was doing well getting grades and that, he’d just applied for college, so he really wasn’t a bad lad.”
Dr Alan Billings is the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner and told GB News that tackling knife crime is a priority for South Yorkshire Police.
The force also provided a statement and Detective Superintendent David Cowley, force lead for violent crime, said: "We are dedicated to combating knife crime all year round, and our dedication is supported by forcewide operations such as Op Sceptre.
“This operation provides the opportunity to raise awareness of the consequences of carrying knives. Our last Op Sceptre, ran in November 2023, saw the recovery of 77 knives and more than 50 arrests.
"As part of this activity, we also engage with local schools, deliver tailored educational talks and events to make them aware of the dangers carrying a knife will bring.
"In addition, we continue to organise dedicated operations to tackle violent crime in the night-time economy through our Home Office-funded programme which aims to reduce the most serious violence through targeted policing in our hotspots and delivering problem-solving initiatives.
"We encourage members of the public to continue to work with us, to help us tackle these serious violent crimes.”
Anthony Olisende founded the charity Always An Alternative
GB News
As part of the Always An Alternative event in Sheffield, students from a secondary school in the city produced a short film that was shown at the Showroom Cinema to highlight knife crime among teenagers.
Chloe Dyson, Secondary School Student and Actor in the film said: “It was really educational, and you don’t understand how bad knife crime is until you’re being shown the figures.”
Wiktor Syrytczyk, Secondary School Student and Actor in the film said: “We had three people that had seen or been stabbed just in that session, I thought that was ridiculous, there was a room of 15 people and three of them had seen or experienced knife crime.”
Martin Babu, Secondary School Student and Actor in the film said: “You know, something like this [knife crime] could happen to me, could happen to anyone and it is concerning and is something that I don’t want to happen.”
Fnan Berhane, Secondary School Student and Actor in the film said: “Knife crime is unnecessary and stops you getting to the places you want to get to in life for your life goals and your root to success.”
