AGONY, TEARS & HOPE
Our SOS roadshow arrives in Southampton
A MUM has told how her son was murdered by a thug who was supposed to be under curfew on an electronic tag.
Anguished Jen Singleton recounted how 18-year-old Lewis was stabbed by a gang led by killer Rikki Johnson.
Johnson was wearing a tag meant to curb his movements and should not even have been out on the streets at the time of the early hours attack.
Speaking to a stunned audience at the latest News of the World Save Our Streets Roadshow, Jen said: "We will never be the same again."
Jen's heartbreaking story was one of many to emerge in a night of raw emotion as our roadshow reached Southampton - yet another area of Britain blighted by spiralling violence.
Savagely
Speakers also included Danielle Fenney, 17, who wept as she said she was now too afraid to go out at night following the death of a 15-year-old friend.
And mother Theresa Roots described how her son was so savagely kicked that footprints were left on his brain.
Our Roadshow, which is now in its second year, moved into Southampton on Thursday night.
The audience and panel of experts listened in sorrowful silence to story after story of tears and anger - yet hope that things will get better.
Mum Jen, addressing the meeting at the city's Upper Shirley High School, said her family had been left with a "life sentence" by son Lewis' death. She said of killer Johnson: "He murdered my son after breaching his curfew continuously.
"He stabbed our son six times - there were three fatal wounds, eight inches deep. It was a random attack. It has ripped our family apart but we are determined to stay strong and keep fighting to help other families.
"And I want a review of the system of electronic tags - they're not working."
Football fan Lewis was targeted in a random gang attack as he walked home from playing snooker with pals. Johnson was later jailed for life.
Jen added: "When the surgeon at the hospital advised us to get the family together and broke the news that Lewis had died, I fell apart.
"People need to stop burying their heads in the sand and thinking it is someone else's problem, because the streets have become a dangerous place and it could be your child next. I never realised the extent of knife crime until this happened."
The Roadshow panel - which included a police chief, an MP, and the Government's Victims Czar and anti-crime campaigner Sara Payne - listened intently to speaker after speaker.
Mother Angela Little wept as she spoke of the "injustice" of the death of her 15-year-old son Dele.
The lad was knifed through the chest after a fight outside a shopping centre in Totton.
Aaron Roche, then 20, was charged with Dele's murder but cleared after saying he had acted in self-defence.
Mrs Little, 34, said: "Everybody knew Dele, he was a very popular lad. This has destroyed our family - it was an absolute nightmare and utterly pointless."
Mrs Little was accompanied by Dele's friend Danielle Fenney, who said: "I have no faith in the police any more. I should be out with my friends but I am too scared to go out on the streets."
The room fell silent as another mum, Theresa Roots, described finding her 19-year-old son Jed, a keen golfer, dead in his bed after he had been beaten up.
She said: "I have heard a lot about knife crime, alcohol and drugs. But my son was killed by hand, the hands of two boys.
"They punched and kicked him in his head - there were footprints on his brain and all over his body.
"We are talking something very sinister going on in these youths - they are animalistic, not mentally adjusted to be in society."
Jed was attacked by Terry Sewell and Darren Abrams, then both 20, who smashed a bottle over his head and repeatedly kicked him as he lay on the ground.
Sewell, a self-styled Goth who later bragged about attacking "just another chav", was jailed for life. Abrams hanged himself in prison.
Campaigning mother Cathy Franklin spoke of her seven-year-fight to change aspects of the law after her toddler son died in the hands of her partner.
Cathy's two-year-old boy Ryan suffered a severe brain injury while he was being looked after by his father Lee Khair in Blandford Forum, Dorset.
Sentences
Asked how she coped with the trama Cathy, 33, replied: "I cope by fighting."
The Roadshow - hosted by television presenter Fred Dinenage, who presents ITV's Meridan News - was united in declaring the need to stand up to violence, expecially knife crime.
Campaigner Sara Payne said: "We have got to stand together and say 'no' to carrying knives. We need to start giving out harsh sentences to kids.
"We have to make that punishment so much worse than the peer pressure they get, so much worse than the fear of not having the knife in your pocket.
"It really should not be down to mothers and fathers of dead children to be pushing for changes in the law, but it often is. And if we can change something for the next person maybe our children will be remembered for that."
Panelist Chief Superintendent Matthew Greening said street fights were being taken to a terrifying new level of violence.
The head of Southampton's operational command unit said: "I look at the city I have been policing since the 1980s and what has got worse is alcohol-related violence.
"There is something dramatic about where we used to be and where we are now."
Speaking about a lack of respect due to bad parenting, he told how an infant in a pushchair gave him a V-sign as he sat in a marked police car. He added: "That's the sort of attitudes we are talking about."
Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, said schools, parents and the wider community need to stand up to street violence and make their voices heard.
Mr Ellwood - involved in an incident with youths he had challenged earlier this week - said: "We need to take a serious look at the direction in which our society is going in every respect.
"There is a knife crime taking place every half an hour, which is appalling."
THE next SOS Roadshows will be held at Ilford Community Centre, Eton Road, Ilford, East London on July 7 at 7pm and in Leeds on July 21.
To request your tickets email us at: saveourstreets@notw.co.uk
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