Wolverhampton murders feature in Hollywood actor's knife crisis documentary
Wolverhampton stabbings are among the cases highlighted in a new documentary presented by Hollywood actor and anti-knife crime campaigner Idris Elba.
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The Luther star spent 12 months working on the BBC film Our Knife Crime Crisis investigating the impact of youth knife crime and the rising number of deaths and teenagers being locked up as a result.
Those interviewed for the programme include Wolverhampton's Pooja Kanda the mother of Ronan Kanda, aged 16, who was stabbed through the heart from behind in a case of mistaken identity just yards from his home in Lanesfield June 29, 2022.
Filming also took place at Stowlawn playing fields in Bilston where 19-year-old visitor Shawn Seesahai, from Anguilla, was killed by two 12-year-old boys after a minor altercation on November 13, 2023.
Speaking about her son's case Pooja said: "The perpetrators could have been stopped many times. Everyone failed - all these failures are the reasons my son is not here on this side of the bed and I'm not able to hug him. These failures will continue if they are not highlighted.
"If they are not being told that you messed up big time. You have failed in your duties."
In 2023, Ronan's killers Prabjeet Veadhesa, who was 17 at the time, was jailed for a minimum of 18 years and Sukhman Shergill, also 17, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison.
Det Insp Damian Forrest, of West Midlands Police, showed the actor the machete used by the 12-year-olds to kill Shawn Seesahai which happened as the Kanda case rolled to its conclusion, and said: "The reality is those defendants have gone out with a knife - and it's in play."
To which Elba replied: "My son is 10 - so when you see 12-year-olds that must be unusual?"
"When we learned the identity of the two lads involved there was a collective pause. Everyone was thinking something feels different here. You're crossing the Rubicon but at the same time it was the grim reality of where we're at rather than complete surprise.
"Knife crime will never be stopped by police officers alone that will never happen," the officer said.
The schoolboys, believed to be the UK's youngest killers, were given life sentences with minimum terms of eight-and-a-half years in September after being found guilty of murder.
The West Midlands is among worst affected area for knife crime and Elba along with members of the Kanda family were among the anti-knife campaigners to attend a Downing Street summit looking at the problem.
The BBC 60-minute film sees him meeting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said that his party would commit to halving knife crime if elected, and the King, where the pair discussed solutions with some of the young people most affected by youth violence.
He also spoke to offenders who have been locked up for knife crime.
The Hackney-born actor added: “When it comes to big tech, there needs to be accountability within their own policies and their policies need to be educated and driven by what society deems is right or wrong.
“It’s great that you’re a big company, you make a lot of money, got lots of social media followers, that’s fantastic. But by the way, we don’t like knives, we’re not going to tolerate you advertising knives to young people, please - in my opinion, where democracy leads, it takes a village.”
The Thor: Love and Thunder actor was spotted having food in the Cleveland Arms in Stowheath Lane near Stowlawn last August while working on the film.
Our Knife Crime Crisis airs tonight at 9pm on BBC1 or you can stream on iPlayer now.
