Grieving mother joins taskforce to fight knife crime
Wexham: Mum of murdered son issues warning to young
A grieving mother has spoken out about the horror of seeing her son dying on the pavement in a bid to try and stop young people carrying knives.
Shabnum Ashraq said she was in denial as she watched police and paramedics surround her 18-year-old son, Mohammed, trying to save his life after he had been stabbed in the back with a hunting knife.
She pleaded with them to put his clothes back on believing he was getting cold after being injured in a car accident not comprehending what was actually happening.
Mrs Ashraq’s story is now being highlighted by the Slough Violence Taskforce, a partnership organisation founded in October 2019 to tackle the root causes of violence in the town.
Speaking through an Urdu interpreter, the 44-year-old said: “The ultimate aim of speaking up is to change things.
“Mohammed was a unique child. He was helpful, not just to me but to his grandmother, his father and siblings, in the kitchen and other area of our everyday lives.
“He was studying for his A-levels and he wanted to go on and study further to become an aeronautical engineer.
“The last time we spoke was in the kitchen I was with him and his siblings and he had just won a boxing bout. He had a medal and we were congratulating him about it.
“The doorbell rang and he went out. I had an uneasy feeling about it, an instinct, and I began to pray and recite verses form the Qur’an.”
Moments later there was a knock at their family’s front door telling them Mohammed was hurt. His sister was the first on the scene as emergency services tried to save her brother.
He was taken to hospital following the stabbing in Benjamin Lane, Wexham, on January 4 last year but died a short time later.
Mohammed Hussain, of Benjamin Lane, Slough, was convicted of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 19 years after a trial at Reading Crown Court last summer. He was 18 years old at the time.
A second teenager, 18-year-old Hamza Mahmood, of Shaggy Calf Lane, Slough, was acquitted of murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter after two trials
‘Young people must look at the sentence and realise this is what could happen – the end of a good person’s life and their own’
which concluded in November last year.
Mrs Ashraq and her family had to move away from the home they shared with Mohammed shortly after the traumatic events in Benjamin Lane.
The grieving mother said the family’s lives would never be the same.
“These young people must look at the sentence this person got and realise this is what could happen – the end of a good person’s life and their own,” she added.
The Slough Violence Taskforce includes partners such as Slough Borough Council, Thames Valley Police, health services, schools and the voluntary sector.
Work is continuing to identify gaps in services and develop interventions to tackle the root causes of violence.
For further information, support, and help if there are concerns about a child or young person in Slough in relation to knife crime, violence or exploitation, contact Slough Children's Services Trust on 01753 875362, Monday to Friday, between 9am5pm.
Help is also available from the Family Information Service on 01753 476589 and via the website by visiting www.sloughfamilyservices.org.uk/.
Young people can also seek help from Childline by calling 0800 1111 or by visiting www.childline.org.uk.
Frimley Health has released new images of the new Heatherwood Hospital development with it on track to welcome patients by the end of the year.
The £99m project has been progressing throughout the last year and is still ‘on time and budget’ in spite of the impact of COVID-19, according to the NHS trust.
The new hospital in Ascot will replace the current aging Heatherwood site and be fitted, furnished and equipped later this year.
Frimley Health said clinical teams would be ‘at the heart of decisions’ over medical equipment.
A statement read: “When it is complete the hospital, set in Berkshire woodland, will be one of the best in the country for planned surgery, outpatient and diagnostic services.
“It will have six operating theatres, 48 inpatient beds and 22 day-case cubicles and it is expected to see double the number of patients as the current
Heatherwood Hospital by the end of the decade.”
The new general practice hub building, which is located alongside an administrative centre for Frimley Health staff is already complete. Photos show the design and interiors in a similar style to the hospital building.
The main shape of the building, at the back of the existing hospital site, is also complete and due to be handed over to the trust by contractors Kier during the summer.
The trust will be recruiting staff later this year with all services fully operational in the first few months of 2022.
Disruption from associated roadworks in the coming weeks will be ‘kept to a minimum, the trust added.