Hard Calls Saves Lives: Mothers of knife crime victims urge Londoners to help end bloodshed

They are encouraging people to ring Crimestoppers anonymously with even the slightest tips about someone they know who carries or uses a weapon.
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Five women whose sons were stabbed to death today urged other mothers to help them end the bloodshed on London’s streets.

Lillian Serunkuma, Yvonne Lawson MBE, Jean Foster, Pastor Lorraine Jones, and Becky Beston teamed up with charity Crimestoppers and the Metropolitan Police for a new campaign pleading for information on knife crime.

At the heart of Hard Calls Save Lives is a series of short films where each reflects on heart-breaking calls they had to make when their sons died.

Now they are encouraging mothers, sisters and aunties to ring Crimestoppers anonymously with even the slightest tips about someone they know who carries or uses a weapon.

Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick was set to join them this morning for the socially-distanced screening event at New Scotland Yard.

The mothers will also feature in radio, internet and social media adverts targeting people in areas most impacted by violent crime.

Anti-violence campaigner Mrs Serunkuma’s son Quamari Serunkuma-Barnes, 15, was killed in Willesden in 2017.

Describing her most difficult call, she said: “I called my auntie to let her know that Quamari had been stabbed. She just screamed.

“That was the hardest thing about that day.

“It can be hard to make the call to say someone is involved in knife crime, especially if it’s someone you know or love. But it’s so much harder if you don’t.

“It’s almost as bad to lose a child or a friend to prison as it is to lose them if they’re killed. Either way, they’re going to suffer as a result of knife crime.”

Mrs Lawson’s son Godwin was a promising 17-year-old footballer when he was killed in 2010 trying to protect a pal from attack in Stamford Hill. She rang her sister within minutes repeating Godwin had “died, died, died”.

City legal clerk Christopher Foster, 34, was fatally stabbed outside a pub as he smoked a cigarette in Borough High Street in December 2013.

Mrs Foster said when she heard the news, she called the single father’s mobile “nine or ten times” before realising he was “never going to call back”.

Mrs Jones’s community work since the 2014 murder of son Dwayne Simpson, 20, in Brixton has been praised by the Duchess of Cornwall.

She said: “I had to call my mum. I was out of breath and my stomach was tight. Even when I was making a call my hands were shaking. I tried it three times, I was just so helpless and weak.”

Mrs Beston’s son Archie, 19, was stabbed to death by a habitual knife thug on a night out in Kingston, south-west London in February 2020.

She added: “If somebody would have made that phone call about knives, my Arch would be here now.”

Dame Cressida said: “This campaign would not have been possible without the strength and courage of these mothers, who have relived the traumatic calls they had to make in hope that it will prevent other families suffering, as they have.

“I have no doubt that these tragic accounts will resonate with Londoners, and will hopefully encourage them to pick up the phone and call Crimestoppers, anonymously, with any information they might have.

“We understand this is a difficult thing to ask - but you don’t have to name names and even a small piece of information could be vital. Making that one call could literally save the life of someone’s son or daughter.”

Crimestoppers director of operations Mick Duthie added: “Hearing the mums speak in such an honest, frank and heartfelt way about losing a son to knife crime is incredibly humbling.

“I truly admire their courage and determination to warn others in their own words about the danger of not speaking up.”

Around 10 people are arrested and charged every day as a result of information given to Crimestoppers.

Contact the charity anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at Crimestoppers-uk.org. Calls and computer IP addresses are never traced.

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