Stop and search vital

LIFE changed for my family two months ago when my 18-year- old grandson was stabbed in Birmingham. Following emergency surgery and intensive care, he has survived the vicious attack, but the effects on him and the whole family have been devastating.

We feel so lucky that he is still alive, but even though he knows his attacker, no arrest has been made. I support Boris Johnson’s call for stop and search and also urge the Home Secretary Sajid Javid to impose severe penalties on anyone found carrying a bladed weapon.

Name and address supplied. WHILST it is laudable that Asda are going to stop selling single knives as these, by all accounts, are the most stolen and possibly could be used for knife crime. Are they also going to stop selling screw drivers? These are cheap, long enough to do serious or fatal damage, and sold singly too.

They also do a cheap range of nail scissors. These have two finger holes and could be ‘worn’ like a knuckle duster, so are they to stop selling these too?

Similarly on eBay UK you can buy a retractable utility knife or a craft knife, on their UK site. Both have knife in the title, so they are hardly mis-described to fool eBay’s rules on knife sales.

Whilst any efforts by retailers should not be shunned, it is the mindset of the youth that has to be changed somehow. I am still waiting for the ‘stars’ that these children follow to come out and make a stand against knives, but some no doubt glorify knives in lyrics or their culture.

Also, the simplest thing to do surely is to have a nationwide knife amnesty. There must be a few Police Stations still open to take knives in or maybe secure metal drop bins in supermarkets etc. A well publicised knife amnesty would leave no one in any doubt that knives are unacceptable, and may prove to be the step change needed to alter people’s attitudes. We can try at least.

DAVE JOHNS, Brighton, East sussex.