Kids as young as 8 ‘carrying blades’ in Birmingham knife crime epidemic ‘fuelled by social media’ where one post could see a child killed ‘within hours’
Alison Cope, whose son Joshua Ribero, 18, was stabbed to death in 2013 now does talks in schools on knife crime. She told the Sun Online: “You've got kids as young as eight and nine walking around with blades.
CHILDREN as young as EIGHT have been caught carrying knives in Birmingham, a mother has claimed as campaigners warned social media was fuelling an epidemic that could see teens killed within an hour of making a post.
Sites like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are causing violence to explode as warring factions are able to issues threats to one another almost instantly, it is claimed.
The mother of a knife crime victim and a former gang member issued the chilling warnings just days after 18-year-old Hazrat Umar became the third teenager knifed to death in Birmingham in the space of a fortnight.
The killings – two of which happened in broad daylight - all happened within a three-mile radius of east Birmingham and saw the city rival London for knife violence.
Alison Cope, whose son Joshua Ribero, 18, was stabbed to death outside a bar in Selly Oak in 2013 and who now does talks in schools, told the Sun Online: “You've got kids as young as eight and nine walking around with blades.
“It's terrifying. These youngsters have no understanding of the consequences of the choices they're making.
She added: "There is a fear of being humiliated on social media and it going viral - not only in school but wider.
“It's a come-and-get-me to people who are in rival gangs. They're putting stuff on social media and not thinking about the consequences.
“Well, the consequences can be deadly”.
Her views were echoed by ex-gang member Simeon Moore who told the BBC: “It used to be that there's a group in one area that doesn't like a group in another, or that a person is being bullied because they're from a particular area.
The consequences can be deadly
Alison Cope, mum of knife crime victim
"That's still the same now, but before, things could take a few days or even weeks to happen, now social media helps it [knife crime] spread, it facilitates it.
"It's instant. And, in a few hours, you could be dead."
Hazrat’s death follows on from the knife killings of Abdullah Muhammad, 16, in Small Heath on February 20 and Sidali Mohamed, 16, who was stabbed outside a college in Highgate on February 13.
Cops in Birmingham this week declared knife crime a “real emergency” and applied for a Home Office crisis grant normally used for terror attacks and disasters.
They also put the entire city under a section 60 order for several hours – meaning officers could stop and search anyone “without reasonable grounds”.
So far four people have been murdered in Birmingham this year while there has also been 269 knife crimes committed.
Although the number of homicides in the city has been rising, they are still far lower than 2013 when there were 22 committed and West Midlands Police is behind the Met and West Yorkshire Police in terms of knife crime offences per head of population.
Chillingly Ms Cope, 45, who now campaigns in Birmingham’s schools against knife crime also revealed how she had been told of primary school children bringing blades into lessons.
Shew said: "The truth is these are scared children, they're frightened. They carry knives because they feel that might need it to protect themselves.”
Her views were echoed by terrified friends of tragic Hazrat who told how they thought families WANTED them to be armed in the warped belief it could keep them safe.
One 18-year-old called Nino, who was speaking just yards from the blood-spattered pavement where his friend died, said: “It’s as bad as London.
“We don’t carry weapons for protection but I think our families wish we did because they’re concerned for our safety.”
Bouquets of flowers mark the spot where he was slain in Bordesley Green.
He was knifed to death in a squalid cul-de-sac, rife with fly-tipping, that divides a skip yard from a car scrapyard.
Candles mark out the nickname ‘Haze’, while one floral tribute sums up the current mood in Birmingham.
'HOW MANY MORE INNOCENT VICTIMS?'
Attached is a note which simply reads: “How many more innocent victims? This needs to stop.”
Brave Tayub Zaman, who had come to the scene to pay respects, told how he had battled to save his gym mate from bleeding to death.
Visibly still shaken unemployed Tayub, 24, said: "I was leaving the gym when I heard what had happened. He was slumped on the street unconscious and looked so pale as he had lost so much blood.
"He had been stabbed in his rib cage and I took my T-shirt off and was trying to wrap it around the wound to stem the blood but I think he was already gone."
One grieving mother has taken it upon herself to try and fight the number of fatalities herself.
Lynne Baird’s son Daniel, 26, was stabbed to death in Digbeth in July 2017. His killer was yesterday caged for life.
The mother, 62, now works on getting lifesaving bleed control kits into public places in the city.
She told Sun Online: “My son, Tom, is a children’s doctor. He sees it happening all the time.
“There’s a steady stream of kids who come in with stab injuries and they won’t say a word about how it happened.
“They’re frightened of the repercussions. It’s just awful.”
Knife detecting arches have been spotted across the city - including at least one school and a branch of McDonald's - in a bid to catch people carrying weapons.
Shopkeeper Mehrdad Razakdost, 44, runs a gifts and gadget shop in the city centre.
He was stabbed in the head at work on Boxing Day four years ago, and now no longer feels safe, saying: "Whenever I'm in the shop and a kid comes in, I don't feel safe. I always wonder, 'what weapon are you carrying?'.
"I'm only a small shopkeeper but I've had to hire part-time security just so I feel safer at work."
Grocer and mum-of-four Imtiaz Hussain whose shop nestles in a suburb of Birmingham - now chillingly called Stab City - shudders as she admits: “I’m scared for my kids and I have to shut them indoors. The streets are no longer safe. It’s terrifying.’
Imtiaz, who runs a popular grocery store in Smallheath with husband Khalid, says: “Youngsters are pulling out knives and stabbing people, walking away and thinking it’s OK.
“I live in fear for myself and my family and I hate it.”
- A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of Hazrat Umar and will appear at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.
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