CAMPAIGN AGAINST KNIFE AND GUN CRIME

Updated 20th July 2008

This Campaign was started as a result of the comments made by John Reid in the House of Commons just after Sarah died in response to a question by John Denham.  John Reid, the then Home Secretary, said all of society should work together to combat violent crime, and spoke particularly of knife and gun crime.  Having just suffered the loss of Sarah in such a violent way the family decided they wanted to take John Reid up on this and establish how it could be achieved.   Margaret wrote to John Reid and also John Denham, the MP for Southampton Itchen.  Terence and Margaret had a meeting with John Denham.  John Reid put the family in contact with Vernon Coaker, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State.  Margaret then had a meeting with Vernon Coaker at The Home Office and all these meetings proved to be really useful and encouraging.

Out of this came the meeting that Peter and Margaret attended on 10th September, as mentioned on the News page.  Various ways forward are being discussed and we will keep you informed via this Website and the Newsletters.  The family are really hoping that John Reid's comments will be put into practice and the whole of society will come together to fight the evil side of society we are all having to live with.   It will be another fitting tribute to the memory of a wonderful person who lived a caring life trying to make society a better place.

The Campaign seems to be gathering pace now.  We have given several newspaper, television and radio interviews, including one for 'Inside Crime' in which Hampshire Constabulary also took part.

We have been in communication with various people in government, police, education, social services, church and the media endeavouring to arrange a meeting in Southampton in September where we can start to tackle the question of bringing everyone together to see what we can do to make our society a safer and more caring place to live.  Various government ministers seem very keen to talk about everyone working together but we believe the time for talking is over and its time to actually DO something.  There seem to be lots of 'pockets' all over the country where groups are getting together to get things moving and we believe we need to come together as a joint force if we are going to be successful.  We were very impressed with the group action in Redruth on a kids' curfew and so we contacted them and also the organisers of the impromptu youth march after the recent stabbings in London.  Please email us if you would be prepared to come to a meeting.  Depending on the response we can book a venue and a date.