Families unite against knife crime in Stourbridge
Families of stabbing victims united to make a stand against knife crime with a march and a football match.
The families of Ryan Passey, Reagan Asbury and James Brindley were at the event ‘Tackling Knife Crime Together’.
Following the march on Sunday there was a football match at Stourbridge Foootball Club’s War Memorial Ground in Amblecote, with hundreds of people coming to watch.
The date of the event was exactly two years since Ryan’s funeral.
Since then, his family has set up a campaign called Justice for Ryan, which is calling for a change in the law.
Gillian Taylor, aged 53, the mother of 24-year-old Ryan, said the family was trying to find new evidence in the case.
Ryan was stabbed at former nightclub Chicago’s in Stourbridge town centre in August 2017.
The family are campaigning for a change in the law, which would allow for families to appeal aquittal decisions by juries in serious crime cases.
Mrs Taylor, from Netherton, said: “Ryan’s death has left a massive hole in our family. But we want some sort of change for families, for the next family.”
Kobe Murray, of The Broadway, Dudley, denied murdering Ryan and was cleared of murder and manslaughter by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court, in February 2018.
He had told the court he had a knife and Ryan was stabbed accidentally.
Ryan's step-father Phil, 52, said: "Every day is a fight. Not everyone has had time to grieve yet. We have gone from losing Ryan to court, and from court, it has been a fight since day one."
Apart from a change in the law, the family’s next hope for justice is finding new compelling evidence in the case.
Stourbridge MP Margot James was also at the event on the weekend and said: “The campaign is very important. It is about giving justice for Ryan and I know they want a change in the law.”
Reagan Asbury, 19, from Pelsall in Walsall, died when he was stabbed at Walsall Town Hall.
James Brindley, 26, was murdered in Aldridge, Walsall, in June 2017.
