The human cost of knife crimes (From The Argus)

The human cost of knife crimes

4:13pm Thursday 17th July 2008

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In the past year knife crime has dominated the headlines.

The Argus’s coverage has humanised the devastation blades can cause in Sussex. In the 12 months to June 2008, police have charged two murderers, two attempted murderers and three rapists, who are all accused of using knives to commit crimes.

Officers also dealt with 92 people who used a blade to wound and 27 who used a knife to carry out an assault.

Every day police and the courts are dealing with knife criminals. It is costing taxpayers millions of pounds a year.

One of the worst crimes happened on July 1 last year, when Michael Morgan, 15, from Shoreham, was stabbed to death by his former schoolfriend at a party in Lancing.

Killer Kieran Wright, also from Shoreham, inflicted 30 separate injuries to Michael’s head and body while the victim slept on a friend’s sofa. The 17-year-old murderer was sentenced to life and must serve a minimum of 12 years before he is considered for parole.

Only weeks later, on July 28, 22-year-old David Stunell, from Whitehawk, Brighton, was stabbed in the throat in an unprovoked attack at the Seven Dials, Brighton.

The carpenter’s teenage killer, Aaron Aymer, was this month sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve at least 16 years before he is considered for parole.

On September 13 last year, former porn actress Melissa Walker, 26, was jailed for four years and nine months for stabbing her boyfriend, Matthew Quant, 22, at her home in Hove.

The university graduate, who has starred in dozens of blue movies, plunged the knife into Mr Quant’s stomach during a row about cocaine.

On November 12, rapist Stephen Osbourne, from Worthing, was sentenced to seven years behind bars for brutally raping a woman while threatening to stab her. Osbourne had been drinking and taking cocaine before the attack near Preston Park, Brighton. He told the mother of three he would slash her face if she made a sound.

On February 1, a police officer was stabbed in the chest as he tried to stop a violent knifeman in the street. Ayhan Kilavuz, 37, who suffers from mental illness, ran around the city centre brandishing the large kitchen knife and threatening to kill English people.

PC Leigh Cobb was one of four officers called to Western Road in Hove after Kilavuz, a Turkish national, started chasing frightened passers-by, who ran for their lives.

Kilavuz, who remains in a mental hospital for treatment, lashed out at PC Cobb, 28, but the officer escaped serious injury because he was wearing a stab-proof vest, which was ripped by the knife.

On March 12, Ben Wood, 18, from Eastbourne, was locked up after attacking three people, one with a knife, when celebrating his release from prison.

While on bail, the teenage thug attacked a 17-year-old from behind on Eastbourne seafront without warning, slashing the victim’s hands as he tried to protect himself.

Two months later, on May 9, takeaway worker Gazmir Meta, 30, was jailed for six years for stabbing Rafel Salaciak, 26, outside Buddies in King’s Road, Brighton.

Albanian Meta, an illegal immigrant, grabbed a blade from the restaurant kitchen, stormed outside the building and stabbed Mr Salaciak in the side.

On June 13, a thief sparked an armed siege after he stole sushi from the Marks and Spencer branch at Brighton Station then waved a 9in knife at staff. The knifeman then broke into a nearby home and barricaded himself inside.

Police wearing anti-stab vests sealed off Terminus Street, only yards from the station, while they waited for an armed response team to move in and arrest the man.

Please support our Knives Cost Lives campaign, by signing our petition to Home Office minister Tony McNulty. Click here to fill in and submit the petition

Do you think there should be tougher penalties for those caught carrying knives? Tell us below.

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