UK’s knife crimes drives actor Idris Elba into action

Actor Idris Elba has urged the UK government to take urgent action to reduce knife crime.

Actor dris Elba stands in front of an installation of over 200 bundles of clothing representing the lives lost to knife crime in the UK. Picture: Getty Images

Actor Idris Elba has urged the UK government to take urgent action to reduce knife crime, with public concern at mounting numbers of young people being injured or killed in stabbings.

Elba, who shot to fame as drugs kingpin Stringer Bell in the hit TV series The Wire, helped launch a campaign in London on Monday calling for a ban on knives.

“I can’t stay silent as more young lives are lost to these brutal and heartless crimes,” he said outside the British parliament.

On the grass in front of Parliament House, piles of folded clothes were laid out in line to represent those killed by knife crime.

“We can’t let knife crime escalate, we have to put a stop to it,” said the 51-year-old Elba, who has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling for a ban on bladed weapons such as machetes and “zombie” knives.

Football clubs Arsenal and ­Liverpool abandoned their traditional red jerseys on Sunday as part of the London club’s “No More Red” campaign against youth violence.

Families of some of the victims of knife crime were applauded by the crowd at the Emirates stadium watching the FA Cup tie.

Idris Elba poses with relatives of victims of knife stabbing in central London on Monday. Picture: AFP

About 350 people were killed in knife crime in England and Wales between July 2022 and last June, according to official figures.

In London last year, 21 children under 18 lost their lives in violence, including 18 who were stabbed.

The sale of knives is strictly regulated in Britain but young people are still managing to arm themselves with large “zombie” knives, where one side is serrated and the other curved. The weapons, inspired by horror films, are typically associated with gangs and can be bought cheaply on the internet.

“I’m asking simply to put a ban on machetes and zombie knives,” said Elba, a rapper, singer and DJ also known for playing Nelson Mandela and television detective John Luther.

Instead, he called for more ­investment in youth services to tackle the root causes of crime.

The government in August promised a ban on “intimidating and threatening” zombie-style knives and machetes “that have no practical use”, as part of moves to reduce knife crime.

But there has been no let-up in violence: in September a 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death on her way to school in south London.

And just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, a 16-year-old boy watching fireworks with friends was killed in a north London park.

A government spokesman on Monday said knife crime had fallen by 7 per cent and hospital ­admissions for knife wounds were down by nearly a quarter.

Julie Taylor, a former cook, was invited to parliament to give evidence to MPs after her 19-year-old grandson was stabbed to death outside a pub in Essex, east of London, four years ago.

“Everything in parliament takes so long, too long. It has to change,” she said.

“Every day you get up in this country and you expect someone to be murdered in a knife attack. This is like a never-ending war.”

AFP