Boy's Birmingham stabbing prompts pledge to keep city safe

An organisation seeking to boost the experience of business and customers in Birmingham city centre has said it is working to make the area "as safe as possible" after a teenager's fatal stabbing.

Colmore BID said it was working with partners and the police to provide a "reassuring presence".

The comments followed the death of Muhammad Hassam Ali, 17, who was stabbed in Victoria Square on Saturday.

Police said an investigation continued.

John-Jo Von Johnson, who manages Colmore BID's security team, said the events of Saturday afternoon were "very saddening".

"It's shocking," he said. "No one expects someone to be stabbed in a city centre at that time of day."

Police have said they suspect the teenager to have been a victim of mistaken identity.

The Colmore BID security team operates from 07:00 to 20:00 on weekdays, working alongside the council and police.

Operations manager, Jonathan Bryce, said he agreed with police that Birmingham city centre was safe, but said it faced the "same challenges" as other busy locations.

He said the team would work with community partners to look at initiatives that may tackle issues such as knife crime or anti-social behaviour.

"We're not blind to the fact that incidents happen, and this is an extremely tragic one," he told BBC Radio WM.

"It does appear to be a tragic isolated incident and we'll need to learn from that and respond as we can as a city, to continue to work to keep it as safe as we can."

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