Surrey dad: "You are 65% more likely to be stabbed or to stab someone by carrying a knife."
A Surrey dad who lost his son to knife crime at a party in Sussex has welcomed new government plans for compulsory mentoring for children caught carrying knives
A Surrey dad has welcomed new plans from the government that hope to crack down on knife crime
Children caught carrying a knife by the police could be forced to have mentoring sessions as part of Government plans to drive down reoffending.
Police will refer every child knife possession case to youth justice services - locally led teams tasked with providing specialised plans to keep children away from crime - the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said.
Knife carriers could also be forced to stay in education or training under the plans, and their progress will be "intensively monitored".
Offenders will still be charged in the first instance if it is the most appropriate course of action, the MoJ outlined.
Martin Cosser lost his son Charlie after he was stabbed at a house party in Sussex, since then he has started the charity Charlie's Foundation, where he travels to schools talking about the dangers of knife crime.
He told us he is excited about these new changes
"I'm really pleased actually. I think it's it's positive because for once we're actually being proactive and what we're saying is, you know, someone's stopped with a knife. We're not just going to process them.
We're actually going to do something with them and we're going to signpost them and we're going to give them support and understand why, get to the the emotional drivers behind why they're actually carrying those knives, because not everybody will carry a knife for the same reason. So I think it's actually it's a really positive step."
Martin added that it was so important to spread the message that carrying a knife doesn't protect young people
"It absolutely does do the opposite of protecting you, you are in fact 65% more likely to be stabbed or to stab someone by carrying a knife. It doesn't protect you. It actually endangers you.
Most people that lose their life to knife crime are knife carriers and more often than not with their own weapons. So I think there are some young people, particularly when they hear there's been an incident and someone's been stabbed. Oh my goodness, I better, I better carry a knife to protect me. It does not protect you. It endangers you."
Martin then told us the next step he wanted to see was more training for school staff on knife crime, as well
"Only 15% of mainstream teachers are are qualified and confident enough to educate young people on knife crime. That's not good enough.
So if the government will invest some more money, let's invest in upskilling our teaching population and and giving them the tools they need. Then they're failing through no fault of their own."