Graphic knife images 'not enough'

Kevin Johnson was fatally stabbed in the chest

The father of a Sunderland man who was stabbed to death by three youths says a graphic government campaign will not be enough to deter some offenders.

Kevin Johnson, 22, was killed last May after challenging the teenagers outside his Pennywell home.

His father John has welcomed a new Home Office advertising campaign which uses images of wounds to discourage youngsters from carrying knives.

But he said longer jail sentences would send out a "tougher message".

Father-of-one Kevin Johnson was fatally stabbed when he went outside his home after hearing shouting in the early hours of 19 May.

Dean Curtis, 19, Tony Hawkes, 17, and Jordan Towers, 16, were all jailed for life for the murder, with minimum sentences ranging from 13 to 17 years.

But John Johnson says "life should mean life" and is campaigning for tougher sentences for knife killers.

The posters show the consequences of carrying knives

The 57-year-old Sunderland taxi driver said: "I think anything to do with trying to stop knife crime is good because kids look at this and think 'I'm not going to put this knife in my pocket', but I think there will still be teenagers who won't give one iota.

"No matter what you do they will never change, that's the ones that life should mean life.

"It's ludicrous saying we are going to be tough on knife crime and then doing nothing about it."

Mr Johnson plans to take his campaign, Enough Is Enough, to London on 11 June to petition Downing Street for tougher sentencing for knife crimes.

He expects hundreds of people to travel to the capital in support.