Shoe pervert killer’s open jail move fury
OBE honour for dedicated knife crime campaigner Mark Prince
When his talented young son was stabbed to death trying to break up a fight outside a school, Mark Prince vowed to tackle violence in the capital.
Now he has been awarded an OBE for his anti-knife and anti-gang work in memory of 15-year-old Kiyan, a Queens Park Rangers academy player.
With the toll of violent deaths in London at its highest in a decade, Mark’s vital work is needed more than ever.
But the former champion boxer, who fought his way out of a tough life on the streets, hopes his gong will now inspire others like him to aim higher.
Mark, 49, said: “I’m committed to showing young people a better way. Young people that are homeless like I was at 15, into that criminal mindset like I was in my teens, and who want to turn their life around – and I done that to become number one in Britain as a boxer.
“Now to get an OBE shows them people like us, from our community, can do great things and be recognised for the great things we’re trying to do for others.”
Kiyan was stabbed outside a school in Edgware, North London, in May 2006.
Hannad Hasan, then 16, stabbed him multiple times in an attack that was reportedly part of a gang initiation. He got a life term.
Hasan, who went by the nickname The Killer, shouted, “Who’s laughing? Who’s laughing?” as he stabbed Kiyan repeatedly in the heart and arm.
As he bled to death Kiyan asked Hasan, “Why are you doing this to me?” and asked a friend to tell his mum he loved her.
After Kiyan’s death, Mark was tormented by thoughts of revenge.
But then his faith in God set him on a different path and he set up the Kiyan Prince Foundation to create anti-knife and anti-gang culture in schools.
He said: “I had a choice, to be jailed by my own pain or free myself to give something back. I came to the conclusion that there had to be a reason Kiyan was taken from me. Even though I’d go home and cry for hours, every moment I could give love helped. It felt right to reach out to children who had the same mindset that killed my beautiful son and try to fight that.”
Then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, demanded tougher sentences for those carrying blades and the government vowed to make it harder to buy one. But violence in the capital continues, with 127 deaths this year – the most since 2009, when there were 131.
Mark has told in a book, The
Prince of KILLER Hannad Hasan was jailed Mark Prince Peace, of his own violent past, selling drugs and even carrying a blade himself before finding a new direction as a boxer. He has warned that youngsters will continue to die if they live without hope or aspirations in a world that glorifies violence and wealth. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has said solving violent crime could take a generation MARK PRINCE ON BEING AWARDED AN OBE – but Mark said more should have been done since Kiyan’s death. “We’ve wasted 12 years,” he said.
Urging politicians to address the underlying causes of youth violence, he added: “Everyone has to take responsibility for the part they have played in letting down the next generation.
“We’re blaming the youth but they’ve taught themselves from a culture which values greed and glamorises violence.
“It’s stolen their ability to enjoy life, enjoy people and enjoy their community.
“You can’t just point the finger and say, ‘Oh, it’s the police’ or, ‘Oh it’s the music’. If we don’t address this culture, the violence will get worse.”
And while he accuses the Metropolitan Police of not respecting communities torn apart by violence, he says officers must “do their job” and carry out more stop-and-search to catch people carrying knives and guns.
But he also begged parents to confront their knife-wielding children. “The people in our communities responsible for this need to know that we’re not going to harbour you any more,” he said.
“We’re not going to sit by. If that means calling police on your own child to stop them killing another person’s child, then parents have to do it.”
■ Mark Prince, The Prince Of Peace, with Paul Zanon, Trinity Mirror Sport Media, £12.99. FETISH Christopher Farrow THE daughter of a woman killed by a shoe fetishist has hit out at the decision to move him to an open prison ready for his release on parole.
Christopher Farrow tied up Wendy Speakes, 51, in her home with stockings and made her wear blue mule shoes before raping and stabbing her in 1994.
Her daughter Tracey, 54, said: “He’ll start being allowed to go out in public. I’ll be wondering where he is constantly.
“He is a dangerous, dangerous man. He doesn’t admit it [the killing] fully and he’s never said sorry.”
Farrow, now 58, was caught after advances in fingerprint technology and jailed for a minimum of 18 years in November 2000 for the murder in Wakefield, West Yorks.
This shows people like us can do great things