THE MOTHER of murdered teenager Anthony Walker told a stunned audience how she had found the strength to FORGIVE the killers of her son.

Dignified Gee Walker was speaking on the Liverpool leg of the News of the World’s Save Our Streets Roadshow in a packed Mount Carmel Social Club in Toxteth.

Almost 200 people listened in respectful silence as Mrs Walker told how she had turned hatred into love after her son was brutally murdered in July 2005.

Mrs Walker said: “I know I hated killed my child but I turned that round into something positive. We showed love instead of hate.”

Her story was one of dozens told at an emotional meeting on Tuesday night before a panel including Merseyside’s Chief Constable Bernard Hogan Howe, Liverpool Labour MP Peter Kilfoyle and Shadow Minister Chris Grayling.

Television personality Esther McVey and the academic Dr John Ashton were also on the Liverpool panel.

Audience members included Denise Fergus, the mother of murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger, and Neil Metcalfe, the Lancashire man who reported his son to the police when he found bullets in his bedroom.

One mother told how her son Liam Culshaw was stabbed to death after confronting a gang of yobs in March 2006.

To make matters worse explained Anita Culshaw, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board reduced the compensation for Liam’s death by a quarter because they said he was partly responsible for his own murder.

Paula Ogungboro, from the support group Mothers Against Guns, told the conference her son had been killed after being blasted twice with a shotgun.

She asked why the Government wasn’t doing more to stop guns coming into the country and ending up in the hands of kids.

Mary Kelly, whose son Liam was killed in Toxteth in June 2004, criticised the sentences handed down to killers.

She said: “His killer got 23-and-a-half years. That’s an insult to my son’s life, he was just 16 years old.

“We can’t move on knowing one day a letter will come through my door saying he’s applying for parole.

“A life sentence doesn’t mean 23 years. Hope should be swiped from underneath them.”

Mr Metcalfe, who reported his son to police after finding bullets hidden in his bedroom, received a huge round of applause when he stood up to talk.

His son Paul, 19, received a three year prison sentence for possessing a firearm after his dad took action.

Mr Metcalfe told the packed room: “I’m the bloke who shopped his son for a firearms offence.” Applause immediately broke out.

He criticised the Criminal Justice system for its inconsistency in handing out sentences.

The News of the World Save Our Streets Roadshow started last month in Greenwich, south-east London, where the Metropolitan Commissinoer Sir Ian Blair was on the panel.

Next Tuesday the Roadshow moves to Newcastle before going to Birmingham and Bristol and returning to London for a final conference at City Hall.

Our goal: No more victims

All of the young people pictured below have lost their lives on the streets of Britain in the past few months.

Join our fight to stop any more of these tragic and pointless deaths.