Fresh calls over knife sentencing

Richard Taylor, Jayne and Paul Walmsley criticised the government

The father of murdered Damilola Taylor has visited Parliament to campaign for tougher sentences for knife crime.

Richard Taylor was among relatives supporting the Knives Destroy Lives campaign which wants a five-year minimum sentence for carrying a knife.

The group said ministers had cared more about saving foxes than preventing human deaths.

Damilola, aged 10, bled to death after being stabbed with a bottle in Peckham, south London, in December 2000.

Mr Taylor said: "The Government took the issue of fox hunting to Parliament, but what about human life? Human life is more valuable - I do not see why they cannot look at it to save lives on the street.

Blades ban

"They are more interested in stopping some privileged people from going hunting than saving human lives," he said.

Mr Taylor said that when his son had been killed the government had said "it should be a wake up call."

It is about time the Government started listening to what people had to say Jayne Walmsley, mother of stabbing victim Luke

"So far they have done nothing and I urge them, for the sake of us all, to stop talking tough on knife crime and to take immediate action."

Fellow supporter Jayne Walmsley, whose son Luke was stabbed to death at school in Lincolnshire last November, has accused the government of being too slow to tackle knife crime.

The families are backed by the Victims of Crime Trust (VOCT), which says a child dies in a knife attack every two weeks.

She said: "We're absolutely disgusted but nothing that has been put forward up to now has been acted upon.

Banning blades for under-18s does not go far enough, the group says

"If it can happen there [Lincolnshire], it can happen absolutely anywhere. It is about time the government started listening to what people had to say, rather than sticking their heads in the sand," she said.

Michael Hegarty, 31, whose brother Bernard was fatally stabbed in east London's Bethnal Green, last August, said: "It does not seem that we are being taken seriously, but we will keep on coming back until something gets done."

Representatives from all three main political parties were expected to meet the delegates at the House of Commons on Wednesday.

VOCT director Norman Brennan claims the government's plans to ban under 18s from buying blades does not go far enough.

The group plans to launch a nationwide petition in support of its campaign on 15 March in Trafalgar Square.