Bereaved dads call for compulsory school lessons

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Bereaved dads call for compulsory school lessons

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Left to right: Martin and Charlie Cosser, and Robert and Colin Knox

Two dads who have met for the first time since their teenage sons were fatally stabbed are calling for compulsory ****** ****** lessons in schools.

Colin Knox, whose 18-year-old son, Harry Potter actor

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, was murdered outside a London bar in 2008, said: “I had to kiss him on his forehead and it was cold.”

Martin Cosser whose 17-year-old son Charlie, was

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at a party in West Sussex in 2023, said: “The night Charlie was stabbed the word shank was mentioned twice, and ******, and nobody did anything.”

Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to “double down” on ****** ****** after a summit at Downing Street aimed at halving it over the next decade.

Colin Knox and Martin Cosser both lost sons to ****** ******

Mr Cosser and Mr Knox shared some of their most difficult moments.

Mr Knox, from Hawkinge in Kent, said the hardest thing was saying goodbye. “I had to kiss him [Robert] on his forehead and it was cold, I could have just collapsed on the floor. What a way to say goodbye.”

Mr Cosser described his memory of seeing his son Charlie’s lifeless body.

“Nothing could prepare me to go in and see my little boy lying there at that age, it was just horrific and all because someone thought it was alright to take a ****** out to a party and use it on an innocent human being.”

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit the

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Mr Cosser, from Milford in Surrey, who gives awareness talks in schools, said: “The night Charlie was stabbed the word shank was mentioned twice and ****** and nobody did anything.

“I don’t blame those children.”

He said if any of them had reported it to the home owner “Charlie may still be alive”.

“****** ****** in terms of the school curriculum needs to be compulsory and it needs to start at a young age, because I’ve also been hearing about young ****** carriers, eight and nine years old,” Mr Cosser said.

“Keir Starmer, if you are listening, you need to do something different. You’ve spoken about ****** ******, what are you going to do?

“What is wrong with an hour a week?” he said.

More than 50,000 ****** ****** offences in England and Wales were reported in the 12 months to March 2024, a 4% rise on the previous year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

Mr Cosser and Mr Knox say Sir Keir Starmer needs to “do something different” to tackle the increasing issue.

**** and ****** ****** is not mentioned specifically in the current relationships, **** and health education (RSHE) in schools.

But the government says it includes references to situations that often lead young people to carry weapons, such as involvement in gangs and county lines drugs operations.

The Department for Education says it allows schools discretion to tailor the content of the curriculum to suit the threats that face their pupils specifically.

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Colin Knox and Martin Cosser are urging the government to introduce mandatory lessons on the dangers of ****** ******

Mr Knox, who previously lobbied Gordon Brown on ****** ****** when he was prime minister in 2009, said the recently elected government should bring in new ideas.

“I’ve had a personal visit to Number 10, I’ve been to the Department for Education and many government departments. You ask me whether there’s been change? My honest opinion is no.

“Take them out of the system, educate them, turn them around and give them an exit programme, break that wicked circle, break up the gang culture,” he said.

On Monday police,

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in Downing Street to launch a new push to tackle ****** ******.

Actor Idris Elba told the summit: “Talk is good, but action is important.”

Sir Keir Starmer promised action to tackle the online ***** of deadly weapons.

He said: “Far too many knives are too easily available, whether that’s online, whether that’s through the post.”

It is “just too shocking – that needs to be dealt with,” he said.

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Idris Elba attended an event in Downing Street with the prime minister

Policing minster Dame Diana Johnson said: “We know that ****** ****** over the last decade has gone up so much, so that’s why it is so important to this government, and it’s one of our manifesto commitments to deal with ****** ******.

“There is within schools relationships and **** education where schools have the flexibility to raise issues like this, to talk about these issues with young people,” she said.

“At the moment there is a review of what’s taught in relationships and **** education and this is one of the things that is being looked at.”

The government says it is bringing in tough new laws on the ***** of weapons.

Zombie-style knives and machetes are being added to a prohibited list of dangerous items from

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– which also includes butterfly knives, samurai swords and push daggers (short-bladed knives with a T-shaped handle).

According to the government, anyone found with these weapons following the ban will face jail time.

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#Bereaved #dads #call #compulsory #school #lessons

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