“JUST don’t carry them. Don’t. Don’t even think about it.”
That was the message the father of murdered Olly Stephens gave about carrying knives weeks after his son’s teen killers were jailed earlier this year.
Stuart Stephens made this plea in a message posted by Thames Valley Police online on November 14.
Just ten days later, a woman was reportedly stabbed in an incident in Coley Park in West Reading.
In the two weeks prior to Mr Stephens’ message, Tilehurst man Reece Heffernan, 22, was fatally stabbed at his house on Romany Lane on October 31.
LISTED: Reading residents caught carrying knives in 2021.
One week after this, on November 7, a man (named locally as Mark Grimes) was found with stab wounds in Whitley in the early hours of the morning.
After a dreadful start to the year in Reading following a spate of tragic stabbings in the space of a handful of weeks, knife crime in the town appears to have got worse again.
The issue ‘destroys families’ and ‘irrevocably alters’ the lives of victims and their loved ones, two political figures leading the fight against knife crime told the Chronicle upon reflecting on such incidents in 2021.
How the year began
Prior to Olly Stephens’ death on January 3, a case that shocked not just the town but also the nation due to the age of the 13-year-old victim and the 13 and 14-year-old offenders, a man was reportedly stabbed twice in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Despite the outpouring of emotion across the community following Olly’s tragic death, and desperate pleas from police and campaigners to stop knife violence, two more stabbings were reported in January.
February was another bleak month for the town with two stabbings resulting in the deaths of two men in their twenties.
Six days into the month, Tilehurst man Raheem Hanif, 26, was stabbed to death in the passenger seat of his father’s car just yards from his home on Dulnan Close.
In a tribute to his son, his father said: “Our hearts are aching every minute of the day knowing that Raheem, our beautiful boy, will not return home.
"Our son had a cheeky, contagious smile and laughter, and with his beautiful soul, he would light up every room. He always took care of everyone’s needs without questions, with kindness and dedication.”
Four young men have been charged with Raheem’s murder and are currently being tried at Reading Crown Court.
And just eight days after Hanif’s death, shortly after midnight on February 14, 24-year-old Yannick Cupido collapsed and died after being stabbed in the chest in Caversham by 28-year-old O’Neal Joseph.
Joseph was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years behind bars in November.
A tribute from Cupido’s mother read: “His sisters say they will hold onto the beautiful adventurous memories they have of him.
"He is much loved and missed by his brother.
"He loved spending time at home having meals with his family, laughing together and having BBQs in the garden in the summer.”
A man in his fifties was reportedly stabbed and sustained life-threatening injuries following an incident on March 29.
A downturn in knife crime
Despite the horrific start to the year, this was the last stabbing incident -- as far as records show -- reported in Reading until mid-August, when a young man was reportedly stabbed in the town centre on Hosier Street.
The downturn in knife crime may have been due to a number of pleas both from local institutions and residents urging carriers to give up their blades.
In late February, Tilehurst resident Odane Cross ran his own knife amnesty campaign after appealing for those in possession of blades to hand them in without repercussions.
Odane, who lived near Raheem Hanif, told the Chronicle he was “sick and tired” of knife crime in the town and that he wanted to take action, having had a friend of his die in his arms following a stabbing in London.
Back in February, Mr Cross said he asked knife-carriers - most of which he claimed were aged between 13 to 15 - why they carry blades. He says most of the time they responded with "I don't know."
He added: "I explain to them, if you stab someone you're going to ruin your life and the life of the person whose life you're killing, and you're ruining their family and your family.”
In the first three days of his campaign, Odane was handed ten bladed articles including one that was more than four foot long.
Thames Valley Police launched their own knife crackdown campaign across Berks, Oxfordshire and Bucks in April.
250 knives were taken off the streets as a result, including 96 in Berkshire.
Part of the campaign saw police teaming up with Reading Borough Council to promote the visibility of knife amnesty bins, where carries can drop their blades off.
Labour councillor Adele Barnett-Ward, chair of Reading’s Community Safety Partnership, said the six bins installed in 2021 at Waitrose Car Park in Caversham, Cintra Park, Coley Park Community Centre, Kensington Park, Orts Road and Tilehurst Triangle “allow members of the public to safely dispose of knives and bladed articles anonymously.”
She told the Chronicle: “The bins are routinely monitored and officers will be carrying out a review shortly to assess how widely they are being used.
“This initiative is part of a wider plan to tackle serious violence in Reading and Reading is the first local authority in the Thames Valley Policing area to introduce these bins.”
Cllr Barnett-Ward said tackling serious violence was a priority for the Partnership and work is underway to come up with a plan to root out its underlying causes.
Despite the efforts of the council, which includes work to support a network of Safer Neighbourhood Forums in the area, the councillor said ‘we need everyone in the community to do their bit to stamp out knife crime.’
She added: “Knives ruin lives and destroy families. Tackling knife crime is not just a job for the police and other statutory authorities: every one of us can play our part, by having conversations with friends and family about the dangers of carrying knives, using the amnesty bins, and informing the police if you believe someone you know may be carrying a knife. This can be done anonymously through Crimestoppers and could save someone’s life.”
Murder trial
Despite a summer clear of stabbings save for the August incident, knife crime dominated headlines and nationally due to the trial of the two teenagers charged with murdering Olly Stephens in late June and throughout July.
Both boys, aged 14 at the time of the trial but who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of Olly’s murder.
The older boy will serve a minimum of twelve years in custody, whereas the younger boy, who stabbed Olly twice, will serve a minimum of 13 years in jail subject to an appeal.
A 14-year-old girl who admitted manslaughter after luring Olly to Bugs Bottom in Emmer Green where he was stabbed was handed a five-year prison sentence on appeal.
Speaking at his son’s killers’ sentencing, Stuart Stephens said: “This crime was abhorrent and it turns our stomach daily to think of his final moments.
"We are no longer the people we were and we will never be the same again.
"I found the court process traumatic and surreal. You thrust a knife, twice, into my son and now he is gone."
A collective sense of relief at justice being served was soon followed by the September sentencing of Chris Minards, the ex-army medic who will spend at least 16 years behind bars for the brutal and fatal stabbing of his former partner Emma McArthur just outside Reading borough in Thatcham in April.
Stabbings back in the news
By the autumn, stabbing reports were back in the news following the fatal stabbing of Reece Heffernan in Tilehurst on October 31, as mentioned earlier in this article.
News of his stabbing was announced on the same day the trial of the four young men charged with the murder of Raheem Hanif in Tilehurst was due to start, leading to an ironic and cruel twist of fate in which two Tilehurst stabbings were being reported on for different reasons.
Their trial is still ongoing, while a provisional trial date for the the six men and women charged in connection with the death of Mr Heffernan has been set for June 27, 2022.
Two more stabbings in Reading followed the Halloween incident after a man was found with stab wounds in Whitley on November 7 and an 18-year-girl was reportedly stabbed in Coley Park on November 24.
On December 17, a woman was reportedly stabbed and had an 'unknown substance' thrown over her in a vicious attack in Whitley.
She had stab wounds to her face and neck, and also had an unknown substance thrown over her.
At the time of writing in late December, thirteen stabbings were reported to have occurred in Reading in 2021 (including the stabbing of Emma McArthur in Thatcham).
What do the figures show?
Despite the horrific injuries and tragic deaths caused by these incidents, the figures on serious violence and knife crime in the Thames Valley are actually some to be positive about, according to Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber.
Incidents of serious violence, which includes knife crime but excludes possession offences, is down 17 per cent year-to-date, with 156 fewer incidents recorded from April - November 2021 than there were in the same period in 2020.
Mr Barber said: “The statistics on knife crime in Thames Valley are remarkably positive.
“The lockdown restrictions that we all endured last year unsurprisingly had the side-effect of reducing many types of crime, but even taking this into account, serious violence, including knife crime is down and across Thames Valley.
“The latest figures show that, by population, we currently have the lowest levels of serious violence of any police force in England and Wales.”
The figures come as Reading is set to lose more than half of its community safety funding over the next three years following cash allocations from the PCC announced in September.
The borough will receive £453,128 in 2021/2022 but this fund will go down to £213,977 by 2024/2025 -- a drop of 52 per cent.
Speaking to the Chronicle in September, Mr Barber said Reading borough had already ‘benefited hugely’ from previous funding and that there will be other opportunities for the area to receive new funding.
Commenting further on the serious violence figures, the PCC added: “This welcome trend is no excuse for complacency.
“We’ve all seen the headlines that retell the tragedy of lives lost and families broken.
“These statistics that show the successes of proactive policing are of little comfort to those who have had loved ones ripped away from them in recent months through the unthinking violence of others.
“Too many families will face this Christmas with an aching wound that will never fully heal.
“Effective though the approach by the police is proving to be, the problem is one that goes beyond law enforcement.
“When knives are involved, the difference between a serious assault or a murder can be just a matter of inches, or the speed of the emergency response.
“This truth is even starker when looking at the age of some of those involved.
“Although the police will be dealing with gangs and drug offences, we’re often not talking about hardened criminals, but children who are making - sometimes fatal - mistakes.
“That’s why the police cannot solve this problem alone. My Violence Reduction Unit brings together schools, social services, the NHS and others, seeking to get ahead of the problem.
“Changing attitudes, identifying those at risk of becoming involved in violent crime and attempting to prevent things from escalating out of control.
“We all have a role to play. If you know or suspect someone is carry a knife, please report it to the police by calling 101. Often people are nervous of criminalising family and friends, but early intervention will mean a proportionate response and may prevent the most serious consequences next year, next month or next week. Your call might save a life.
“The approach of proactive policing, taking knives off our streets, whilst also working to stop young people picking up weapons in the first place is getting traction and we’re seeing those successes in falling rates of violent crime.
“Of course for those who mourn lives lost or irrevocably altered there are no words of comfort I can offer to ease the pain this Christmas.
“The evidence is however that we’re moving in the right direction and there is hope that we will see fewer families suffering the same way in the future.”
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