LIVING IN FEAR
Parents of murdered London schoolboy Jimmy Mizen says Bank Holiday killing spree has left parents ‘frightened to let kids out of their sight’
PARENTS are afraid to let their children out of their sight after the sky-rocking violence on London's streets, the parents of murdered schoolboy Jimmy Mizen have warned.
Barry and Margaret Mizen, who lost their 16-year-old son Jimmy ten years ago, said they were still in pain at losing the teen - struggling to see the worsening street crime in the capital.
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But the couple, who have been campaigning for more safety on London's streets since their boy's death, said they hoped families would still be able to "hope".
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, dad Barry said there was a sense of "fear", saying: "You're frightened of where your children go, you're frightened to let your children out of your sight.
"This has affected everybody."
Their warning comes after a 17-year-old boy was shot dead in Southwark over the weekend, hit while playing football on Saturday evening.
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Barry and Margret Mizen, parents of murdered schoolboy Jimmy Mizen, urge cops to crackdown on knife thugs
A 30-year-old man was also gunned down in Lewisham yesterday - becoming the fifth gun victim in three days in the capital.
Mum Margaret revealed that she was still struggling with the loss of her son, with her heart going out to the families of those killed over the Bank Holiday weekend.
She said: "In our family, of course there has been a lot of pain and there continues to be pain.
"It's something that never really goes away but you just have to learn to cope with it."
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But when probed by hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid about what needed to be done to tackle violence, she said she wanted less blame and more productive community solutions.
She said: "What I want to hear more of is how we can work together.
"I want to hear the word hope, we're not hearing enough of this word.
"We have to have some hope, otherwise it's going to get worse and worse."
After Jimmy's death, 19-year-old Jake Fahri was arrested and found guilty of his murder, sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 14 years.
The bereaved couple were joined by former gang member Ken Hinds, who is now a youth worker, and former Met Police chief superintendent Dal Babu to discuss the growing violent epidemic.
Speaking passionately in support of the couple, Ken said he wanted more to be done to support young people who were vulnerable to being caught up in street crime.
He said: "They must prefer to be caught by the police carrying a weapon than not by having that weapon, and caught by the opposition without that weapon which could cost them their lives.
"If we have this fear factor, how do we as a community step up to support these young men to lower the tension they have."
MOST READ IN NEWS
Knife crime across the country has risen by a staggering 21 per cent in the 12 months to September 2017, according to .
At least 36 people have been fatally stabbed - and 62 overall killed - in London since the beginning of the year.
In London, the problem was even more pronounced than the rest of the country, with 12,980 knife crimes taking place in the capital - 2,452 more than the equivalent year.
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