RAY WINSTONE: DOCUMENTARIES ON KNIFE CRIME SHOULD BE SHOWN IN SCHOOLS

Actor Ray Winstone has backed calls for compulsory knife crime lessons from two dads whose sons were fatally stabbed

Mr Winstone said: "I don't know why that hasn't been done up to now."

There were more than 50,000 incidents of knife crime recorded in 2023-2024, an increase of 4% on the previous year, according to ONS figures. The Department for Education (DfE) told the BBC: “We know more must be done to tackle knife crime, which devastates lives."

The star referred to Colin Knox, from Hawkinge in Kent, whose Harry Potter actor son Rob was killed aged 18 in 2008.

At a screening of (K)nox: The Rob Knox Story in central London on Saturday, Mr Winstone told BBC South East documentaries on knife crime should be shown in school

He said: "It wouldn't hurt to show this film and films like it in schools

"If it stops one kid from doing it it's kind of done it's job."

Mr Winstone, who appeared in 2004 film King Arthur with the teen, became patron of The Rob Knox Foundation after filming a documentary on his murder.

Picturehouse Central, Photo by Kathy Janet Wieczorek 

Rob's father Colin Knox recently met with Martin Cosser, whose 17-year-old son Charlie was fatally stabbed at a party in West Sussex in 2023. The two fathers jointly called on the prime minister to make lessons in knife crime part of the curriculum.

Mr Cosser, from Milford in Surrey, said: "Keir Starmer, if you are listening, you need to do something different. You’ve spoken about knife crime, what are you going to do?

"What is wrong with an hour a week?"

Read the full BBC NEWS article here.