'As easy as buying a loaf of bread' – Ronan Kanda's mum speaks out at Downing Street knife crime summit
The mother of a Wolverhampton schoolboy stabbed to death yards from his home with a blade bought over the internet has told a knife crime summit in London the knife which was available to her son's killer was as easily available as buying a loaf of bread.
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Pooja Kanda has consistently called on the government to do more to tackle knife crime following a rise in serious offences involving youths and killings – her 16-year-old son Ronan died in Mount Road in Lanesfield on June 29 last year after being fatally stabbed in the heart by a teenager in a case of mistaken identity.
She is part of a coalition of groups and victims' families who met at Downing Street this morning with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Hollywood actor Idris Elba who is an anti knife campaigner.
At the meeting she said she was "horrified, absolutely horrified" by what was available to her son's killers.
She said: "It was as easy as picking up a loaf of bread from a supermarket."
Calling for action, she said: "I'm not a policy expert in reducing crime. I'm a grieving mother.
"But I will do all I can to ensure that the failings that led to my son's murder are corrected.
"It blows my mind at how easy it is to purchase these weapons and have them delivered to your door with absolutely no checks or accountability held."
The Prime Minister said he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online as he pledged to "double down" on efforts to tackle knife crime.
"Far too many knives are too easily available, whether that's online, whether that's through the post," he said.
"There are examples of knives bought online being posted through without any markings, and then people picking them up without any identification, and then those knives being used.
"It is just too shocking - that needs to be dealt with.
"Before the election, I made commitments to people around this table and others in relation to a determination to deal with knife crime. And it is a determination.
"Now I want to double down on that commitment. It wasn't a commitment said before the election that's then forgotten the other side of it – I think many people are far too familiar with that kind of politics."
Luther star Elba, who has met with Mr Starmer before said: "Talk is good, but action is important."
"We needed joined-up thinking, we needed so many different perspectives: parents' perspectives, youth workers' perspectives, charity organisations, governance, policing – we need all of these perspectives to sit around the table when you think about this.
"We aren't going to end knife crime. We can't, that's not realistic.
"But we can tackle the attributes towards it. At the centre of it is obviously young people - my son's 10, and I'm hoping the work that we do annually, keep pushing, (can) help him by the time he's 16.
"There are kids right now that are 16-24, they're in that cycle right now that we might not be able to help, but with our joined-up thinking we can help future generations."
