Guns Down, Unn-Blade aim to reduce gun crime and knife crime on our streets.
Side Street Boyz give out a powerful message
A true story of a husband almost killed by his wife.
My ex wife, Charlotte, had attacked me, stabbing me numerous times
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Charlotte often accused me of having affairs but this time it went far beyond the usual abuse.
Standing at my kitchen sink, I poured us both some water to take up to bed, aware of Charlotte standing beside me. It was 11:30pm, we had watched TV together and drank four cans of lager each before deciding to retire to bed... The next thing I remember is the blows to my head, it wasn't a punch or a kick, but a knife. Charlotte had been holding a foot-long knife in her hand. I was the victim of a terrifying and sustained stabbing because Charlotte was convinced that I was having an affair. I remember how Charlotte raised the knife above her head and started bringing it down in a slashing motion, with a real look of anger and hate in her face.
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Stepping back in shock, I started to feel weak and fell to my knees, blood pouring down my face and the side of my head, my T-Shirt and jogging bottoms soaked in blood too.
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Unaware that Charlotte had hidden the house keys, I was left sitting on the kitchen floor facing the woman who was trying to kill me, a prisoner in my own home. Charlotte demanded to know who the ''other woman'' was, threatening to kill me if I didn't tell her. What could I say, there is no other woman but I was desperate to get away and thought about making up a name to bide myself some time. But I realised that if I did this, Charlotte would probably attack someone else. Instead I pleaded with her, telling her that if she kills me, then my parents will have lost both children. Charlotte apologised on behalf of his parents but continued to demand the name of the 'other woman'.
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I remember how I saw Charlotte smiling just before she brought the knife from behind her back.
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I could hear her voice saying ''You can have one there'' as she slashed the back of my neck and then felt the pain, the tear in my skin and more blood pouring.
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I asked Charlotte to call an ambulance. Not only did she refuse to call an ambulance, she refused to let me go and ask a neighbour to call one. I feared for my life, believing I would not get out alive.
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I remember how Charlotte had calmed down as quickly as she had flared up and remember thinking that this violent episode had left me clutching for life but it was over.
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As I stood up and went to leave the kitchen, Charlotte grabbed a carving fork from the cutlery drawer, stabbing me in the back as I turned to go into the living room. But Charlotte wasn't finished yet, grabbing an axe that she had left down the side of the sofa, she swung it at my head. When the axe failed to make contact, she swung it again hitting me just below my ribs. Still bleeding and surprised that the axe had not caused me any pain I managed to pull the axe away from Charlotte, took it into the kitchen and kicked it under the dresser.
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The ordeal lasted 6 hours & I still wasn't sure how I managed to survive. I spent 6 days in hospital with multiple knife wounds & a collapsed lung. I was off work for 2 months, attempted suicide, had nearly 30 counselling sessions & still suffer from PTSD, all through being the victim of a vicious & unprovoked attack. And I'm one of the ones who survived. Many don't.
Whilst Guns Down, Unn-Blade have been travelling this week, we came across this very disturbing market stall in a Seaside town, selling real BB guns for just £6.
Because of this, we saw a child as young as 8 being bought one.
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We also came across 3 young children approximately 8 years of age shooting BB guns on a caravan site just feet away from residents holidaying
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Please please please help stop such sales to young children by supporting our work!
Simply like and share our Facebook page, and sign our Campaign on our website.
Plymouth shooting: Starmer asks why gunman had licence?
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has questioned why the man who killed five people in Plymouth, before turning the gun on himself, was given back his gun permit.
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Jake Davison, 22, had his gun and permit revoked in December after he was accused of assault in September 2020.
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The Independent Office for Police Conduct is looking at why Devon and Cornwall Police returned them in July.
Sir Keir asked: "Why did he have a gun licence in the first place?"
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The Labour leader said it was a "good thing that the issue of the return of the licence" was being investigated but there were also wider questions about gun licensing laws and what background checks were put in place when Davison was given his licence.
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel has paid her respects to the victims by placing a floral tribute near the scene.
She laid the bouquet at North Down Crescent Park, where hundreds of people attended a vigil on Friday evening. Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police Shaun Sawyer also laid a bouquet. The home secretary and Plymouth Sutton MP Luke Pollard then spoke with members of the local neighbourhood watch team at the park.
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"It's tragic beyond words, really, really tragic, for a range of reasons, and obviously for those involved," Ms Patel told them. "I'm sure everyone will have known each other and this really will have touched so many people's lives."
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Davison, 22, shot his 51-year-old mother Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine Chapman, at a house in Biddick Drive. He then went into the street and shot dead Sophie Martyn, aged three, and her father Lee Martyn, aged 43.
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He killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, before shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on Henderson Place. She later died at Derriford Hospital.
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Davison also aimed and shot at two local residents - a man aged 33 and a 53-year-old woman - who are known to each other, in Biddick Drive.
His attack, in Keyham, lasted about six minutes before he turned the gun, described by witnesses as a pump-action shotgun, on himself.
Prior to the shooting, Davison had posted hate-filled online rants about single mothers and about his own mother in particular, calling her "vile, dysfunctional and chaotic".
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The IOPC said it had launched an investigation on Friday evening after it received preliminary information that Davison's firearm and licence were returned to him in early July this year.
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The certificate and shotgun had been removed from him by police in December 2020 following an allegation of assault in September 2020, the watchdog said.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson had earlier said the issue of how Davison came to legally own a gun should be "properly investigated", adding that the shooting was an "absolutely appalling" incident.
Guns from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are fuelling a dramatic rise in the number of illegal weapons in the UK. The number of guns on the streets rose in 2018 and border officials and police are struggling to hold back the tide of weapons entering the country. The situation is so serious that the National Crime Agency has used its powers to demand all police forces do more to tackle illegal guns. Mr Cooke, chief constable of Merseyside, said: ‘We are doing all we can. We are not in a position to stop it any time soon. Law enforcement is more joined up now than before but the scale of the problem is such that despite a number of excellent firearms seizures, I expect the rise in supply to be a continuing issue.’ Many of the weapons on British streets come via the Netherlands, which the NCA says is a hub for gun smuggling. Organised criminal gangs are finding new ways to beat security. In November, corrupt British border guard Simon Pellett was jailed for trying to smuggle three holdalls containing eight pistols, two revolvers and ammunition.
Corrupt UK Border Agency officer Simon Pellett, pictured, was caught trying to smuggle eight pistols, two revolvers and ammunition into the country
Mr Cooke said rising numbers of parcels being processed with the explosion in online shopping make it much easier for criminals to send firearm parts through the post. Some criminals are also turning to the ‘dark web’ to buy illegal guns. The last set of official figures showed a 5 per cent fall in gun crime in the year to June, but this is seen as a blip in an upward trend. Earlier statistics for 2017/18 showed gun crime was up 11 per cent. The NCA said: ‘A wide variety of criminal groups operate throughout the UK, exercising varying degrees of discipline and sophistication, with many methods of obtaining, storing, sharing and using firearms. Firearms are obtained through criminal networks, cultural connections and from criminal armourers who supply across groups.’ It comes as government figures show the number of knives seized at UK ports and airports has more than doubled in a year to almost 8,000. Border Force officials confiscated 7,668 bladed items in the 12 months to September, up from 3,800 the year before. There was also a 61 per cent rise in the number of other ‘offensive weapons’ seized, from 4,056 to 6,534.
Derlarno Samuels, 17, who died after suffering stab injuries in Smethwick, on 1 May.
Residents in north Birmingham was reeling after the killing of a 14-year-old boy on a main road during the day. The teenager is one of a number of young people to have lost their lives to knife crime this year, as police try to tackle a spate of violence in the West Midlands. On 1 May Derlarno Samuels, 17, died of stab injuries in Smethwick, Sandwell, and there were gunshots fired at a vigil for him. Jack Barry, 19, was found stabbed to death in Hamstead, in March, and 15-year-old Keon Lincoln died after he was stabbed and shot in Handsworth, in January. A number of teenagers aged 14 and over were charged with Lincoln’s murder. Desmond Jaddoo, a Birmingham community activist, said: “We need to claim these streets back as a matter of urgency. Are we going to end up living in a state of anarchy and terror? And I don’t think I’m being over dramatic in saying that. Our youngsters have their lives ahead of them and our elders should not be burying their children.