Susanna’s terror
TV presenter Susanna Reid’s own experience of violent crime has left her fearing for the safety of her children
It is the one of the scourges of modern urban life, and strikes fear into the hearts of parents. So, it’s no surprise that mumof-three Susanna Reid is ‘ terrified’ of knife crime and ‘fears for her boys whenever they step out of the door’.
And the Good Morning Britain host, 48, has her own experience of knife crime. In 2018, she revealed that ‘years before’ she had been mugged at knifepoint on a London street. She had just taken some money out of a cashpoint when a young man grabbed her handbag. Susanna gave chase and recovered the bag, a reaction she said was born of ‘fear and fury’.
She said: ‘As I picked up my handbag, I realised it had been cut, and I looked down to see a wide tear in my heavy raincoat. He’d slashed at my clothes with a knife to get my bag – the blade millimetres from my skin. He could easily have turned the knife against me when I chased him.’
No one was arrested for the attack and Susanna recently wrote how it had affected her confidence: ‘For months afterwards, I feared anyone walking close to me on the street, totally losing my trust.’
And it is no wonder she feels frightened for her sons, teenagers Finn, Sam and Jack, whom she shares with former partner Dominic Cotton, as knife crime has now reached a record high.
Susanna, who is single since her split with Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish, earlier this year wrote: ‘I am now the mother of three teenage boys living in south London, not far from the site of that attack. Knife crime is far worse, and lives are being lost on a frightening scale.’
Susanna realises that she was one of the lucky ones – let’s hope more of our teenagers are protected from this terrifying danger.
‘He’d slashed at my clothes with a knife to get my bag – the blade millimetres from my skin’