Manchester knife crime: ‘Our sons were stabbed

Two mothers who share the pain of losing a son to knife crime have said they want to save other children.

Jeannine Burke and Kelly Brown, from Manchester, told the BBC the government’s recent ban on zombie knives “does not go far enough”.

Ms Brown’s son Rhamero West was 16 when he was chased by three men and stabbed after his first day of college, and Ms Burke’s son Ty’rellé, 20, was stabbed by a friend at his own home.

Both mothers said children needed to be educated from primary school age on the “ripple effect” a stabbing can cause for victims, offenders and their families.

They were speaking after new legislation closed a loophole, making it a jailable offence to own, make, transport or sell certain weapons including zombie knives and machetes.

The Home Office said the ban on dangerous weapons would “help deliver on our mission to halve knife crime and serious violence in a decade”.

But a spokesman agreed that more needed to be done to tackle knife crime, which he said was a “moral mission upon all in society”.

Back in September, 2021, Rhamero was a “fun-loving joker” with “the loudest laugh”, according to his mum.

“You could hear him coming from miles away”, she said.

“And sadly, now, you can hear a pin drop in my house.”

Ms Brown recalled the night she had rushed to Manchester Royal Infirmary after being told Rhamero had been stabbed.

She was phoned again to say “he’s gone”, and she ran in and “just screamed”.

“I don’t know where the scream came from,” she said.

“It just came from the pit of my stomach to know that your child has been taken in such a violent way – it’s indescribable.”

On 5 April 2019, Ty’rellé was attacked with a kitchen knife in his home after he asked Denver Walton, then 17, to leave.

Ms Burke said: “It was just horrific, you could see where they’d covered up all the blood on the floor.”

She said she was told her son was “evidence” so she could not hold him or “hug him for the last time”.

“I couldn’t hold his hand or anything, the only thing I could do was touch and kiss his face and tell him I love him.”

For both mothers, police procedures were yet another agony on an unbearable day.

Ms Brown was given the same instructions, and said she was only allowed to stroke Rhamero’s eyebrow.

Rhamero’s murderers, Ryan Cashin, Marquis Richards and Giovanni Lawrence, were jailed for life with minimum terms of between 17 and 23 years each.

Walton was convicted of Ty’rellé’s manslaughter and detained for seven years and three months.

Ms Brown and Ms Burke lean on each other for support and are members of a Whatsapp group of 35 women across the country who have lost a child to knife crime.

Ms Brown said: “We have, both of us, got great support networks with family and friends but no-one understands our pain apart from another mother going through it.”

Ms Burke said making sure children were educated on the long-lasting, devastating consequences of carrying a knife was crucial.

She said: “I’m five years losing Ty’rellé and it doesn’t get any easier, it gets harder, because I know now he’s not going to walk back through the door.”

Ms Brown added: “I truly believe, starting from primary school, Year Five and Six, before they transition into high school is the important age.”

Both women also called for heavier sentences for carrying knives in public.

“But you’ve got to get the root cause of why these kids are carrying the knives, what’s behind it,” Ms Brown said.

To that end, she set up the Mero’s World Foundation which provides education and has installed 57 bleed safety cabinets around Greater Manchester.

Ms Burke founded Be Part of Change, which hosts meetings for families affected by knife crime and is launching a games hub for young people in Wythenshawe.

Both women also deliver talks in schools and colleges.

Ms Burke said: “My sole purpose is to save as many children as I can.”