Violent Corrie storyline has a message every parent should hear

EVERYONE expects the usual worries from high school kids of homework, exams, friendships and relationships.

- EMMA GILL

What they don't expect is for them to be afraid in their own community-scared to be out after dark and fearful of visiting certain 'no-go' areas.

Yet that's the reality for many teenagers in Greater Manchester today, all too aware of the rise in knife crime and altering their own behaviour to avoid being caught up in any violence.

It's an issue that's been thrust into the spotlight on TV this week with Coronation Street's hard-hitting storyline which saw character Mason Radcliffe stabbed to death in a horrifying attack.

In real life on Tuesday, 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed to death on a bus in London in front of horrified passengers.

The capital has become a hotspot for knife crime, but Manchester's figures also make a grim read.

The city has the sixth highest rate in the country for knife possession crimes, with more than 2,000 in the last three years, a rate of 36 per 10,000 population.

Salford is ninth worst, with 893 crimes in the last three years and a rate of 32.

It comes as no surprise to teenagers Samuel Fortune, Heaven Titos and Kemi Lawal, all of whom agreed to share their experiences of living in Oldham, which has seen its own rise in knife crime.

In 2020, GMP recorded 90 knife possession crimes in the borough.

Last year it had risen to 193.

All students at Newman Catholic College in Chadderton, the 15-year-olds are aware of young people becoming victims of knife crime in their area.

Samuel knows of a boy who tragically lost his life and another who was threatened with a weapon at a tram stop close to home.