Linda’s angry tears: ‘I’m terrified for my son’
Linda Robson still remembers the day that changed her life forever…
The very thought of your child - whatever age they may be - getting hurt, or worse, is something no parent ever wants to contemplate.
But Linda Robson was forced into that very scenario 10 years ago, when the most horrific event turned her and her son’s worlds upside down.
As violent crime across the UK rises ( knife crime has gone up 22 per cent since the start of this year alone), an emotional Linda Robson spoke out on Loose Women about the night her son’s friend, Ben Kinsella, was stabbed to death on a London street.
He was the brother of former EastEnders actress Brooke, who said last week, ‘I am picking up the newspaper and reading somebody else has lost a brother or son, and it can make you just want to give up.’
Ben was only 16 when he was chased, kicked to the ground and stabbed 11 times in Islington in June 2008.
He’d been out celebrating the end of his GCSEs when he was targeted as he left a bar with friends, after a row that was nothing to do with him.
Linda’s son, Louis, also 16 at the time of the attack, was out with Ben on that fateful night. It was a random killing, which could so easily have been Louis – a thought that clearly still haunts the panellist.
A tearful Linda, 60, could barely keep her emotions in check, as she recalled, ‘That night was the biggest shock I’ve ever had. Louis heard Ben calling for him and he went back and held him.’
Louis, she explained, had called an ambulance, and used his cardigan to stem the blood that was seeping out of Ben from his stab wounds – but his injuries were fatal.
The pair had been best friends since the age of eight, explained Linda, adding with disbelief, ‘They’d just finished their GCSEs.’
Talking about the knife epidemic, Linda revealed, ‘It’s like, every single day. Kids are picking up their car keys, their phones, and they’re picking up knives! I’d like to see more police on the streets.’
Linda, who has daughters Lauren, 35, and Roberta, 22, as well as Louis, now 26, said, ‘ You live in hope that things will get better, but it’s a worry for parents every time our kids go out.’
Indeed, any mum would be terrified for their son in such circumstances.
Speaking in April about how we should tackle the ever-growing problem, she said passionately, ‘Knives should be banned everywhere, not just at colleges. We need more policing and zero tolerance.
‘I think life should mean life. If anyone took any of my children’s lives, I’d be prepared to do life for killing that person.’
All that any parent can hope for is that their child is happy and out of harm’s way. But as Linda – and most of all, Ben’s poor family – learned the hard way, you can’t keep them safe forever. And that’s one terrifying realisation.
‘You live in hope that things will get better, but it’s a worry for parents every time our kids go out’