New Year's Honours: Birmingham gun tragedy mother Marcia Shakespeare weeps at news of MBE

Marcia Shakespeare, who discovered on Friday she was to get an MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, said there was still more to be done to tackle the scourge of gun and knife crime by steering children onto the right path and realising their potential.

Ms Shakespeare still has nightmares of seeing her 17-year-old daughter, Letisha, lying dead in hospital - nearly 14 years after the girl was gunned down in a Birmingham shooting.

When she opened the letter with news of the MBE, her thoughts turned to her teenage girl whose life was cut short and she "couldn't stop crying".

Ms Shakespeare said: "I know that if Letisha wasn't murdered I wouldn't have taken the path I have taken.

"My little innocent Letisha, kind-hearted - the kindest heart - I thought of her, and it was just tears."

She added: "Everything I have done and will continuously do is for the kids.

"I don't do it for medals, my rewards is when I can see a child has turned their life around."

Letisha Shakespeare had been at a party with friends when she and her cousin Charlene Ellis, 18, were killed by a hail of machine gun bullets in the early hours of January 2, 2003.

Charlene's twin sister, Sophie, and her cousin, Cheryl Shaw, were also hit but survived.

All four were innocent victims caught in the cross-fire of a Birmingham gang feud between the Burger Bar Boys and the rival Johnson Crew.

Four men were later jailed in connection with the killings.

For Ms Shakespeare, who is a teacher, the gun attack with a Mac-10 automatic weapon was the "turning point" which spurred her to a calling.

Since the shooting, she has tirelessly campaigned for an end to gun and gang violence, visiting schools in the West Midlands and speaking to more than 100,000 youngsters as a volunteer.

However, she described her work through charity Precious Lives as "a drop in the ocean" in what was a continuing problem of gun and knife crime.

Birmingham has seen a recent spike in gun-related violence, with West Midlands Police chief constable David Thompson saying earlier this year shootings were happening with "concerning regularity".

Ms Shakespeare, originally from Northampton, said that the issue needed a joined-up approach and parents needed to take responsibility for children who decided to use the guns and knives.

"It's such a large problem, and it needs all parties to put something in," she said.

"The (West Midlands) Police are working hard, some community workers work hard but we need more help from teachers.

"Often school is a safe haven for a lot of these kids - it's somewhere they can learn to believe in themselves."

She added parents needed "educating" as well, and an attitude of "this is how it's been, and this is how it always will be" needed to changed.

Ms Shakespeare said: "The choices they have made shouldn't be the same choices your children are making, it's about educating and changing those attitudes.

"If I see a negative, then I know I need to turn that into a positive - if I see a gap, then I know it needs to be filled."

Immediately after her daughter's death, Ms Shakespeare travelled to the United States to stay with family and reflect.

While in New York she saw the effect of gang violence and culture, which spurred her to begin voluntary work back in the UK.

She said: "I realised that we were going the same way here as they were in the US, where you can be killed for wearing the wrong clothes in the wrong neighbourhood.

"It was a turning point for me."

Such was the impact of her work back in Birmingham, that she recalled being told by someone in the street to "be quiet" about her campaign.

She said: "They grabbed me by the arm and said the shooting of those girls was 'just destiny, or fate'.

"I pulled my hand back and said to them 'nobody can tell me what to do'.

"I told them if it took four bullets to murder my daughter it would take 30 to take me down.

"It could not be brushed under the carpet."