I live in fear of evil that killed my Letisha

SHE inspired a nation with her dignity—and influenced government policy with her outspoken views on violence-plagued Britain.

Yet five years after her teenage daughter Letisha was gunned down in a hail of bullets, grieving mum Marcia Shakespeare admits: "I still live in fear of crime—because I am the victim of crime."

In a withering assessment of the scale of the challenge ahead, she told the Birmingham leg of our Save Our Streets roadshow: "My daughter was killed in a shooting alongside her friend Charlene Ellis.

"I think things are being done but a lot more needs to be done. The problem is there aren't enough resources.

"There are too many different organisations doing a lot of the same things, but we are not pulling together."

After recalling her 17-year-old daughter's murder as the girls attending a New Year's Day party, Marcia said: "I back the News of the World's campaign.

"It is about bringing people together and getting them to talk to make changes."

Sentence

Seated beside her was 18-year-old Charlene's mother BEV THOMAS who also backed the campaign and told the panel — including Home Secretary Jacqui Smith — that more must be done to rid our streets of violent offenders.

She said: "People think that the pain is over after the trial, but it's not. It never goes.

"I think about Charlene every morning when I open my eyes and last thing at night when I close them.

"I remember her every day and the pain is with me every day. It will be with me for the rest of my life. My sentence of grief will never end."

"Charlene was a twin and whenever I look at her sister's hair I remember Charlene.

"I will never get over it. She was robbed of her life, and it was so cruel."

Four men were convicted of murdering the two girls in Birmingham's Aston district and the case has recently been back in the headlines.

In an emotional exchange between Jacqui Smith and Marcia, the Minister told her she had inspired the government to bring in legislation aimed at allowing witnesses to give evidence anonymously in certain instances.

It was anonymous witnesses who held key to the conviction of Letisha and Charlene's killers. And Mrs Smith told Marcia that the strength of the mother's views on the issue was pivotal in the government's reframing of the law.

She told Marcia: "You were an inspiration to the government and you should be congratulated for that."

Crucifix

The packed meeting, chaired by BBC presenter Nick Owen, also heard SYLVIA LANCASTER speak of "the worst 12 months of my life" since her daughter Sophie, 20, was brutally murdered in a park for being dressed as a Goth.

Wearing Sophie's cherished deep purple crucifix on black cord around her neck, she told the meeting: "My daughter was a lovely, kind, caring young woman not involved in crime. And yet she died in a totally unprovoked attack.

"I have worked with young people for more than 20 years and have just spent the worst 12 months of my life."

She said: "Everyone talks about respect. I say, hold on, respect has to be earned. It is not automatically given."

Holding back the tears, Mrs Lancaster told how she is once again trying to provide solutions to violent crime by helping young people.

She runs training schemes for young people and says she believes "low aspirations" are at the heart of their sense of hopelessness in deprived areas.Two boys, aged just 15 and 16, were jailed earlier this year for Sophie's murder which happened in Bacup, Lancashire, last year.

And Mrs Lancaster warned that if society was to defeat street violence, it had to be "proactive, not reactive" to the challenges it faced.

"We need to look at the problems before they even start," she stressed.

"We are one community whether we're black, white, Chinese or whatever and we have to work together to make a difference."

During the heated debate, another parent whose life has been torn apart bravely got to her feet and told the panel: "I lost my son to knife crime."

JACKIE RANGER'S son Leon, 24, was stabbed to death last December. She said: "I think the preventative work needs to happen really early on. We should be investing in better schools, better teachers, better resources.

"We not only need to educate our young people in terms of their own personal and moral development. But let's also give young people a second chance, because a lot of young people are excluded when actually they are adolescents going through things."

In another moving moment, teenager KEVIN SUSU stood near the back of the audience and pointed at the News of the World's tragic photo montage of victims killed on our streets, displayed behind the Home Secretary.

The 14-year-old picked out the picture of Ofiyke Nmezu, 16, who was battered to death with a brick in February this year.

He said: "I know the cost of this crime. I lived in north London. I have got one of my friends up there on your board called Iyke.

"We went to primary school together. We were like brothers.

"He died because he walked on to the patch of another street gang. The problem here is respect—the lack of respect.

Epidemic

"He didn't do anything wrong. He was a good kid. Kids of our age are blinded by street life and this whole power thing. I can't believe he's dead. He had his whole life to live for. It's wrong what is happening."

During the meeting, criticism was levelled at the police amid talk of an "epidemic of crime". But assistant chief constable DAVID SHAW, of West Midlands police, spoke from the panel to defend his officers, insisting they were winning the war.

He said: "I don't want to sound complacent but I don't think we have an epidemic at all. Crime is down, including gun and knife crime in many areas and I am very proud of that.

"But I acknowledge that if people do not feel safe on the streets then we need to ask why. We must concentrate our efforts in those areas where people don't feel so safe."

Youth worker JANICE PARKER, 45, believes kids can been taught to stay away from crime and knives.

She said: "I work for the Prison Pupil Referral Unit. That is where the kids go when they get excluded from school. I am a learning mentor and I work with the kids who have no manners, who don't listen to their parents, who go out and cause crime.

"I just want to say we can change them. It takes the whole community working together, encouraging the young people and telling them that they can do better."

Sitting on the panel was the Right Rev Derek Webley, who as well as being an anti-gun campaigner has also conducted the funerals of victims of violent crime.

During the roadshow debate, the issue of proving extra funding for some of the many support groups and organisations was raised.

But Rev Webley warned throwing money at the problem of street crime will not be enough.

He said: "This just pitches community organisations against one another as they compete for funding and ultimately it pulls everyone down."

Mr Webley called for an over-arching strategy to co-ordinate the various groups working in different ways to defeat violence.

And he urged those piecing together a strategy to "think outside the box" because, unlike the rest of society, the thugs were working "outside the box".