Banning “zombie” knives and machetes will not end the trauma of knife crime, the founder of an academy trust has warned, after two pupils at one of his schools were fatally stabbed over the weekend.
The Rev Steve Chalke, of Oasis academies, said the killing of Mason Rist, 15, and his 16-year-old friend Max Dixon in south Bristol was “absolutely devastating” for family and friends, their school and the wider community in Knowle West.
Knife crime, he said, was a “tragic symptom” of a wider crisis affecting young people – made worse by Covid – and called for earlier, therapeutic intervention for children as young as five who are already struggling in school, and support for their parents.
Chalke, a Baptist minister, also called for investment in youth workers to build relationships with young people and work alongside schools, which find themselves “picking up everything that’s broken down in society”.
The two boys who died on Saturday night were pupils at Oasis Academy John Williams, which serves one of the most economically deprived neighbourhoods in the city. It was given a “good” rating by Ofsted after an inspection last September.
“The impact on the school and on the whole community is absolutely huge,” said Chalke, whose trust is responsible for 54 schools across England, many of which are in areas facing severe challenges. “Why were these children killed?”
It is not the first tragedy of this kind to affect Oasis. Zaian Aimable-Lina, 15, a pupil at Oasis Academy Shirley Park in Croydon, was stabbed to death in 2021, just months after former pupil Damarie Omare Roye, 16, was fatally stabbed.
“What we’ve learned over the years is that you have to have an emergency plan,” said Chalke. After receiving the news on Sunday morning, a small experienced team was sent to John Williams to help guide the school’s response. A room was set up for people to come and pay tribute and help was provided with the first assembly.
“We know that every child, every staff member – the teachers of these boys – are going to work through their grief in their own way. So what we set up is the opportunity for anyone to come and talk any time, in a confidential way, to be heard, to be listened to.”
Earlier this month, the actor Idris Elba called for more urgent action on youth knife violence, including the immediate banning of machetes and “zombie” knives, and more funding for youth services.
Both the Conservatives and Labour have set out plans to crack down on the availability of large serrated knives and machetes, while Labour has pledged to halve the number of knife offences by the end of a first term. Official statistics show that total knife crime has risen by 70% since 2015, and almost half of all knife possession cases recorded by police last year led to no further action.
In an interview with the Guardian, Chalke said: “Halving knife crime will not be achieved by banning machetes or banning zombie knives. You can kill someone with a knitting needle or a screwdriver. You’ve got to deal with the anger, the fire, the rage, the angst, the trauma inside the person.
“Of course we should ban these knives being sold if we can, but it will not deal with the issue. In fact it’s not even looking at the issue. The issue is, how do we work with these children in our society?”
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Chalke said Oasis already works in emergency departments in hospitals in London and Manchester, trying to build connections with young people who are victims of gang violence and those who have tried to take their own lives.
“But we’ve got to move upstream,” he said. “I think what’s wrong with our approach to knife crime is we begin too late. We need to catch kids early. We need to work with children in key stage 1 and key stage 2, because we can see the children that are struggling with school and the parents that are struggling with their children.
“But what we do is wait until key stage 4 when a child has been groomed, when a child is out of school the whole time and when a child is carrying a knife and then we do knife amnesties. We’ve got to start early, to catch them early.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary has been clear he is determined to put an end to this senseless violence. Part of that plan is to ban the zombie-style knives and machetes that police have identified are increasingly being used in crime.
“The government is also investing heavily in a twin-track approach to tackling knife crime, which combines early intervention and prevention with tough enforcement measures.”