Fear, heartbreak and hope as Liverpool battles with knife crime after latest tragedy
| Published date | 05 December 2021 |
| Publication title | Liverpool Echo: Web Edition Articles (England) |
"And families are devastated and families are never the same again.
"The same applies to perpetrators of knife crime who kill. Their families are devastated and lives are ruined."
Those were the words of David Aubrey, QC, one of Liverpool's most senior judges, less than two months ago.
He had just watched footage of a 14-year-old boy stab two other teenagers during a brawl close to the Albert Dock.
The CCTV had already prompted condemnation from across the city after it emerged online in the aftermath of the July attack.
The victims avoided serious injury but only just -their attacker had aimed for the buttocks wrongly believing it was a 'safe' area to target and narrowly missing vital nerves.
The boy, from the city and who can not be identified for legal reasons, claimed he had been given the blade by a friend.
Judge Aubrey expressed scepticism towards this explanation though sentenced him to 30 months in youth detention on that basis and told him: "But you knew that you were being given it. You placed it in your rucksack. You were not shocked when it was given to you.
"You made a deliberate decision to place it in your rucksack and I am satisfied you did so ready to use it if the circumstances arose.
"You, in your words, have indicated that it is common for this in your peer group -to be in possession of knives in case an incident does arise.
"And so it was that an incident did arise."
Boy, 14, stabs two teenagers in cowardly attack
That Salthouse Quay stabbing did not end in death. Both victims received treatment at Alder Hey children's hospital but were quickly released.
Connor Dockerty was not so lucky.
He was stabbed to death in Huyton earlier this year by another 14-year-old boy who was carrying a knife on the streets of Merseyside.
His decision to remove a blade from his kitchen is a terrible example of how the presence of a knife severely increases the chances of a minor dispute ending in tragedy.
When his friend's girlfriend became embroiled in a row with Dockerty the boy was at the scene within 10 minutes to confront him.
He was already armed with the weapon used to stab the 23-year-old in the heart.
That boy was convicted of murder this week and now faces a life sentence.
His explanation to investigators for leaving home with a knife
Again, it was for 'protection'.
The boy told jurors he was aware of rumours that "people wanted to get" him and that he was "frightened" - so took the knife with him "to protect myself".
The claim that knives are being carried by teenagers in the city due to their own fear of being targeted is a recurring theme when those who end up using them appear before the region's courts.
Alan Walsh, who educates hundreds of Merseyside teens about the dangers of knife crime and violence every week, is adamant the belief that someone may be safer because they are in possession of a weapon needs to be challenged at every opportunity.
This is something he has done for years through his work with Anfield Boxing Club and the organisation Real Men Don't Carry Knives.
He told the ECHO: "It is definitely not an excuse, you can't justify that -if you are carrying a knife you know you have got the ability to kill somebody."
The wider circumstances of the killing of Ava White, the 12-year-old Notre Dame student stabbed in the neck just after the Christmas lights were switched on in Liverpool city centre, remain the subject of an intense police investigation.
A 14-year-old boy, this time from south Liverpool, has been charged with her murder and with possession of a blade and could face a trial next spring.
Ava's tragic death attracted national headlines but, on Merseyside, it is just the latest troubling incident linked to teenage knife crime.
It has prompted deep soul-searching as the region grieves, with the Church Street scene becoming a memorial site for the popular girl and Everton and Liverpool supporters uniting in the 12th minute of the Merseyside derby to applaud her.
Ava's killing has also been the catalyst for another flurry of an all-too-familiar rallying cry that should, in reality, be unnecessary -'No More Knives In Our City' read a banner on behalf of both sets of fans at Wednesday's match.
The atmosphere in the city feels remarkably similar to the months after the murder of Sam Cook.
Sam was another popular, much-loved and innocent victim of knife crime, stabbed in a Liverpool bar while he was celebrating his 21st birthday.
His death sparked viglis, public marches and calls for action to combat knife crime.
Sam was murdered in 2017. Following Ava's death it could be tempting to question whether anything had changed in the city as a result of the movement that...
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