Ava White: Murdered girl's mum calls for action on knife crime

Two years ago, 12-year-old Ava White went to see the Christmas lights being switched on in Liverpool city centre and never came home.

She was murdered by a 14-year-old boy, who stabbed her in the neck in a meaningless row over a Snapchat video.

Speaking ahead of the second anniversary of her daughter's murder, her mother Leeann said Ava died during an "epidemic of knife crime".

She said it was "dumbfounding" that primary school age children had knives.

"Kids are using knives as an accessory," she said.

"The youngest recorded child carrying a knife in school is eight."

Knife crime is rising again in England and Wales after falling during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Over the last decade, there has been a 76% increase in the number of recorded knife crime offences, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In the year to March 2022, 282 people were killed by a sharp instrument, the highest number since World War Two.

On Merseyside, though, it seems there has been a shift.

Recorded knife crime there is down 22% in the previous 12 months.

Quite why is something campaigners are trying to lock on to, so more can be done to drive it down further.

Nikhil Misra, a trauma surgeon in Aintree Hospital, recalls the moment news broke of Ava's death.

"They were dark, dark days in Merseyside," he said

"We knew we had to make a difference."

He set up KnifeSavers in 2019 after being unable to save the life of a teenager.

He wanted to educate people about the dangers of a single knife wound and teach them how to deal with an injury that can take a life in as little as five minutes.

Back then, the charity's education campaigns mostly targeted adults, but Ava's death made them think again.

"We pivoted significantly to focus much more on a campaign based on schools and colleges," he said.

"Getting the idea firmly implanted in their heads about the dangers of this single knife wound.

"Young people grow into adults. We knew we had to catch them earlier in life."

Every hospital on Merseyside now has a "navigator", a youth worker who visits any 10 to 25-year-olds admitted with a knife injury.

The service was launched in 2022 and Katie Cline said it is all about breaking the cycle of violence.

"We'll build rapport with them on the trauma ward and then see what support they need once they've left hospital," she said.

"Counselling, help with substance misuse, housing support, education support.

"We'll help to put their life on a different track."

Analysis by Liverpool John Moores University shows there has been a 10% decrease in hospital admissions on Merseyside during the most recent 12-month data set and a 15% decrease in ambulance service call-outs for violent crime.

However, the ONS data which shows the reduction in offences recorded by police is one of the biggest in the country.

Supt Phil Mullally, Merseyside Police's lead for serious violence and knife crime, said he believed the force "must be doing something right".

"Last week, 170 knives were handed in," he said.

"That's a 150% increase on the knife surrender we ran in April earlier this year.

"It's been two years since Ava White passed away and it's been two years since we've had anyone killed with a knife who is under the age of 25.

"The last time that happened was 2015-17 so there are real green shoots.

"But of course we must do more."

Supt Mullally said the reasons for the change was about "excellence in the basics".

"Increased foot patrols in hotspot areas. Talking to people. Engaging young people wherever possible," he said.

Six months ago, the force also began piloting new serious violence reduction orders.

When granted, they allow officers to search adults with a record of knife crime.

Unlike stop and search powers, officers do not need any suspicions to carry out a search for a bladed weapon.

Merseyside Police believe they have issued more than any other force in the four pilot areas, and they hope they will act as a deterrent to any offender thinking of carrying.

On Bold Street in Liverpool city centre, two officers have been sent to talk to the public.

One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said there was a lot of bravado and bluff around holding knives.

"People find it intimidating and cool to say they are carrying knives," he said, adding: "Quite young people in my old school."

However, he said he had never seen anyone carrying.

Another unnamed student told the officers his friend was stabbed to death in Manchester just two weeks earlier.

"People say they carry for safety, don't they?" he said.

"I don't believe that. If you're bringing a knife, you've only got one intention."

In response to recent calls for tougher action on knife crime, the Home Office said every life lost to knife crime was "a tragedy".

"That is why we will be banning the sale and possession of zombie style knives and certain machetes and introducing additional powers for the police to seize knives," a representative said.

"Alongside outlawing these blades, we are also making sentencing more severe to ensure offenders face the punishments they deserve, and lives will be saved."

Saturday marks the anniversary of Ava's death and with the possibility of her killer being released at the age of 28, her mother said the government must increase sentencing guidelines if they want to send a message that knives are as dangerous as guns.

"I don't want anyone else to feel what I'm feeling," she said, through tears.

"Parents need to start conversations with their children to make them aware.

"I know they say knife crime is coming down [on] Merseyside, but it has to come down everywhere.

"I can't open a paper or go on social media any more because every time I do, it seems another child has died."

She said her daughter had had "a heart of gold".

"She'd do anything for anyone," she said.

"She got certificates in school for helping people if they were bullied.

"She was an innocent beautiful girl.

"Please think twice before you put a knife in your pocket."

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