Kettering stabbings: mum of knife victim horrified by recent attacks
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Gill Veysey’s son Darren Glen, from Kettering, was killed in September 2009 after a frenzied attack at a party in Houghton-on-the-Hill in Leicestershire.
She’s spoken of her pain after reading about a spate of recent attacks involving knives in Kettering, most recently when a 16-year-old boy was stabbed near McDonald’s in High Street on Sunday. He is now recovering and a police investigation is ongoing.
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Hide AdThe week before an 18-year-old was stabbed by a robber in North Park Drive.
A knife was pressed against a 13-year-old girl in Park Avenue at the start of March and in February a man was stabbed in the torso in the town centre in a weekend attack.
Gill said the attacks left her incredibly said. She said: “It’s heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching. You just get this pain and think “oh no” because you immediately think of their family.
“You just think that they’re going to go through everything I did. Every so often a feeling comes over you that makes you feel incredibly sad.
“It’s like being engulfed with an inner pain.”
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Hide AdDarren’s killer, Denim Denver Rainford, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for 10 years.
Gill made a plea to any youngsters who carry a knife to urge them not to.
She said: “Knives claim lives. It just appals me and it’s inconceivable to me that someone can hurt someone or stab someone with a knife.
“How do you do it? I don’t know.
“Carrying one won’t even protect you. Someone could always have a bigger knife, or they’re bigger than you and can take it off you.
“It shouldn’t be something you even consider.”
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Hide AdGill backed calls to invest in portable scanners which can pick up if someone is carrying a knife, which technology academics are developing after the Government invested £100,000.
But with London’s knife crime rise and more attacks in smaller towns, she fears it’s becoming the norm.
Read more about how Darren’s death is part of a national piece of art, what Gill is doing to try and reform sentencing laws and how she thinks knife crime can be tackled in the Northants Telegraph and on our website tomorrow.