‘We need to raise children better’

Southport survivor's parents speak out about knife crime

- Harry Taylor

THE parents of one of the survivors of the Southport attack said knife crime will only be reduced if young people are “raised better” and are taught about healthy relationships.

Their daughter, referred to as child A, lived despite being stabbed more than 30 times in the horror last July, their MP Paul Foster told a Commons debate on knife crime yesterday.

In a statement read out by the Labour member for South Ribble, the parents praised tougher laws but said work to tackle the problem needed to begin with educating children.

They added young people needed to be exposed to “counter messaging” to oppose what they were being exposed to online.

Radicalisation

The parents criticised the “terrifying” impact of toxic influencer Andrew Tate on teenage boys, and praised Netflix show Adolescence for covering the misogynistic radicalisation of some young people online.