'Can I have a knife for protection?' – Council leader’s shock and worry at granddaughter’s plea

Councillor Bird said he was left distressed when the 14-year-old made the request during a discussion about the need for bleed kits and defibrillators across the borough.

A notice of motion put forward by the leader and his two deputies Adrian Andrew and Garry Perry, which called for a report looking into the availability of equipment to be commission, was unanimously backed at a full council meeting on Monday.

Councillor Perry cited the work done by the Daniel Baird Foundation and James Brindley Foundation – named after victims who were stabbed to death in Birmingham and Aldridge – as inspiration for the motion.

Walsall town centre has already seen two stabbings this year which resulted in the deaths of 20-year-old Bailey Atkinson in January and Akeem Francis-Kerr, aged 29, last month.

Councillor Bird said: “It’s very sad that it takes a tragedy to bring forward a notice of motion which will mean so much to the people of Walsall.

“It’s not about politics. It’s about changing the culture of the people who frequent this town, these districts and cities around the West Midlands.

“We have to make a stand to say to people, carrying weapons particularly knives is not something we can support.

“It’s distressing when a child of 14 – my own granddaughter – came home from school and said to me ‘can I have a knife?’

“I said, ‘I beg your pardon. What for?’ And she said ‘to protect myself’.

“Now if that’s a 14-year-old who comes to me as an adult and asks me for permission to carry a knife, that is the most worrying thing I’ve heard for some considerable time.

“But there are those out there who think it is right and proper to carry a knife and to brandish it and to take life because life is so cheap.

“I would say now it will be a policy of this council after the election that we partner with anyone who wants to provide one of these kits.

“They will get our support which will include funding. We haven’t costed it yet but its commitment and policy that counts.

“Life is worth more than £70. The loss of life is without doubt the most heinous thing that we would see in the circumstances we have here.

“People go out with them in their pocket. They don’t go out there to go and buy an ice-cream, a hamburger or to get a coffee. They go out to use that weapon.”

Walsall Labour group leader Aftab Nawaz added: “We are fully behind this. This is a matter of doing the right thing.

“Knives unfortunately are carried too often these days by children. They are those that use it for weapons and many think they will protect themselves by having a knife in their pocket.

“Again and again, we tell people knives are no good. Even if you think you are trying to protect yourself – you are not. Once that knife comes out someone can get really hurt and in many cases, die.

“In recent times, we’ve had those two awful murders. If someone could have got to them with a bleed kit, if every club in the town had them, if every public building had one, we would have been able to save those lives.”

After the motion was backed, Councillor Perry said: “This demonstrates what we can achieve when we work together beyond party lines because it isn’t about politics but about doing the right thing for Walsall people.

“Our communities are on to this but we don’t know as a collective and that’s what a report will do when it comes back to cabinet.

“The work with the ambulance service will identify where the bleed kits are, where the defibrillators are and where there are gaps we can start to plug them.”