CRIME FILE
THE FATAL STABBING OF TEENAGER ELIANNE ANDAM WAS ANOTHER HEARTWRENCHING EXAMPLE OF A NATIONWIDE EPIDEMIC OF BLADE-FUELLED VIOLENCE
One of the multiple tragedies of the killing of 15-year-old Elianne Andam in Croydon, south London, was that her death was not an anomaly. Elianne, described by her heartbroken family as a “beautiful daughter and beloved sister”, was attacked at 8.30am on 27 September, after she got off abus on her way to school. Apost-mortem determined she died from multiple stab wounds. Her alleged attacker is a 17-year-old boy, who is set to enter aplea on 19 December, and will go on trial next April.
But however seismic the shockwaves her stabbing created, the terrible news was not asurprise for those living in the town. Less than aweek after Elianne died, aman in his 40s was stabbed to death in Croydon and less than 24 hours later, a 17-year-old boy was wounded in apark in the same borough. The attacks took the grim tally of knife attacks, not all fatal, in Croydon to 922 since January 2018, according to the Metropolitan Police. The month before Elianne’s death, there were 32 knife assaults in and around Croydon, London’s third most violent area in terms of stabbings. “Croydon is one of the most dangerous areas in Britain,” said anti-knife campaigner and former Met police officer Norman Brennan. “We have lawless streets that nobody controls, apart from the criminal element. There are many gangs in Croydon and lots of their members carry knives.
These people have no values and no idea of the value of life. That’s why so many people are losing their lives or taking those of others. Each knife is apotential murder if you hit an artery or an organ. The only reason more people aren’t dying is due to the skills of our paramedics, police officers and surgeons.”
But this crimewave is not only aCroydon –or even London –story. Earlier in September, Nathaniel Shani, 14, was stabbed in Manchester. He was rushed to hospital after the police were called, but died from his injuries. Another teenager lost his life to knife crime in Luton the same month, although the incident failed to make national news headlines.
TERRIBLE TREND
According to official figures for the number of knife-related fatalities in England and Wales, in the year March 2021 to March 2022 –the most recent 12-month period available –the number of deaths caused by knives had risen to arecord 282. The toll eclipsed the previous high of 281, which was recorded for 2017-18, and illustrates that the annual frequency of knife
