'The pain will never go away': Parents of children lost to knife crime in Northampton gather at vigil

Two years on from the visit of the imposing knife angel statue, people gathered to reflect and pay their respects to the victims of fatal knife crime, promising never to forget the names of those lost and the devastating effect on so many families and communities.

Cheri Curran, the mother of Louis-Ryan Menezes who was fatally stabbed in Northampton in 2018, spoke at the service and shared the heart-breaking story of losing her son.

She said: “The pain will never go away- it is every day and every hour misery. I will keep going and fighting to reduce knife crime in our youth because Louis’ life was worth so much and every young person deserves to live their life how they wish.

“It’s always important to remember the names, the families, the friends, the communities of all the people that we’ve lost within our county to knife crime. It will always haunt us.

“It was very important to have several families of our loved ones that we’ve lost sitting together today, holding each other’s hands and supporting each other.

“We weren’t put together through choice. We were put together through horror, through fear, through complete shock and heartbreak.

“It’s by holding on to each other that we draw strength moving forward and try to stamp out knife crime within our young people.”

The service was held at the All Saints Church in Northampton, led by Father Oliver Coss. The knife angel statue visited the town in 2022 as part of its nationwide tour to highlight the issue of knife crime in the UK.

The 27-foot-tall statue was created using over 100,000 knives and blades confiscated by police forces.

Rohan Shand, the father of 16-year-old Fred Shand who was fatally stabbed last year, said: “I want to do something great with the loss of my son’s life. I’ve got to make a stand to see what we can come together and do.

“We know it’s not a quick fix, but we’re going to see what we can do to stop this from happening to the next youth.”

Local anti-knife crime ambassador and spoken-word poet Quinton Green also read out a tribute ‘Where the Angels Walk’ at the candle-lit vigil, stood amongst the county’s bereaved families.

“I soak up their emotions by talking to them, by spending time with victims and people that have suffered deep loss,” he said.

“I’m able to build a picture of their despair and their grief, that raw sense of loss, and I try to communicate that with others to show what it’s really like to lose a loved one to serious violence.

“They’ve trusted me with their pain. You don’t have those conversations with people you first meet- it’s almost a stigma about loss and death.

“The families saying ‘thank you for saying what I wasn’t able to say’, it feels like there was a reason for me to do that. It’s something that will stay with me forever.”

Dimz Malatji also spoke at the event about the Springs Family Centre which uses music and recording equipment to help divert young people away from violence. He said the centre created a connection with young people to help them feel safe and build positive relationships.

He added: “There is intervention happening at a ground level and there are people working at the forefront and working hard. We felt the need to be able to help and contribute to the work that is going on.

“What I’ve found is that it has healed a lot of young men, just being able to have that outlet.

“I feel like without us and other youth organisations we would have had a lot more stories. In the work that we do, you never get to know the ending that could have happened, but we create a better ending.”