At 3pm on 12 September 2005, Ann Oakes-Odger's life changed forever. Her son Westley, just weeks after his 27th birthday, was queuing at an ATM in a Colchester shopping centre when two brothers, in an unprovoked attack, fatally stabbed him in the neck. The men, both in their 30s, had carried knives since their teens. A few months previously, they had threatened to kill a police officer.
"Knife crime often slips off the radar, compared to gun crime," she says in calm, measured tones. "But members of the public are four times more likely to be involved in a knife incident than a gun incident. You need early intervention in schools. When I talk to young people about knife crime I usually get a stunned reaction. I show them photos of Westley, from when he was their age, so they can identify with him and what happened."
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