Statement from Councillor Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich:
“We welcomed the opportunity to discuss a topic which tears families apart across the country. We completely understand the anger and devastation of Marie and Jodian and the destruction that knife crime does to our communities. Knife crime is not a problem specific to Greenwich, but we were appalled by the violence that took place on our streets.
We’re never doing enough until there are no knives in pockets, which is why we’re supporting outreach programmes, educating young people, working with mental health teams in schools and providing practical solutions like weapon amnesty bins.
Two separate statutory Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews are currently underway which explores the partnership involvement with both boys, which will be published imminently. Because of this, it would be premature to comment in detail until we have established the facts and circumstances surrounding their lives. We don’t yet know the outcome of the review, which can take time due to the seriousness and sensitivity it’s treated with.
We have been in contact with both families to offer our support and update them on the review process. We know that no two young people are the same and that there are many reasons and circumstances that can lead to a tragedy. It’s our job to try to understand exactly how this happened and how we can best support families.
Both the boys’ families have had the opportunity to contribute to the review and feed into any recommendations for ways the partnership and council works. Once the reviews have been finalised, we’ll share its findings and keep the families updated.
Our support for young people is one of the widest in London and we provide a number of safe places to go such as youth hubs, play centres, children's centres, family hubs, and our public Safehaven Superhubs where anyone can go if they feel threatened or in danger. We also fund Wellbeing in Schools Hubs to work with children and their families to make sure they stay safe and attend school.
Our Let’s Live Knife Free campaign has been viewed over 130,000 times and has helped over 30 schools raise awareness of the impact of knife crime. We have installed four weapon surrender bins across the borough, which has successfully removed over 200 knives from our streets so far.
We have recently launched our Integrated Enforcement Plan which outlines how we are actively working with the police to increase safety measures across the borough.
We understand the anxiety and sadness that incidents like this create. If you have any concerns about youth violence you can contact the council, police or our partner organisations. Find help and support at royalgreenwich.gov.uk/knifefree. In an emergency, always call 999.”