'Knife crime is leaving people afraid to leave their homes,' MPs are told
An epidemic of knife crime across the West Midlands is leaving people afraid to leave their homes, blighting town centres and disrupting children's education, MPs have been told in the Commons.
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The claims were made during a parliamentary debate on knife crime in the West Midlands, organised by West Bromwich MP Sarah Coombes.
Miss Coombes told the harrowing account of how a primary schoolgirl had been so traumatised by the murder of her brother, that she had begun self-harming.
A teenage boy had told her he did not expect to live beyond the age of 22, Miss Coombes added.
Alex Ballinger, MP for Halesowen, told MPs that the number of knife offences in the region had reached terrifying levels.
"Residents are scared, with many telling me they know longer feel safe leaving their homes alone," he said.
"The number of young men and boys carrying and using knives with impunity across our communities is deeply worrying."
During the Westminster Hall debate, he spoke about the death of Ryan Passey from Quarry Bank, who was stabbed in a Stourbridge nightclub in 2017.
He told MPs about a knife attack in Silverthorne Lane, Cradley Heath, in August last year, and how in September Leasowes High School were placed under lockdown after masked youths were seen outside carrying machetes.
Miss Coombes said only last week a constituent had described to her the night her son was murdered.
"She had heard through friends something had happened that night, her sister was out searching the local hospital," Miss Coombes told MPs.
"She had rung the police, and they had told her somebody would be there soon. Then she heard a knock on the front door."
Miss Coombes said the mother had told her she had long worried that her son might come to harm.
"He was the kind of person who always protected his friends, and that's what happened. He stepped in front of his friend to protect him, and he was stabbed."
Miss Coombes said the loss of a child in that way was too enormous to comprehend, but said it affected not just the life of the mother, but also her other children.
The mother told Miss Coombes: "My daughter is so angry, she won't talk about what happened, she feels there is no justice for her brother. She's only in primary school, but she's self-harming."
