School girl stabbed to death on bus in Birmingham

A young girl named as Christina Edkins has needlessly lost her life toady after being stabbed to death in Birmingham City Centre today by a 22 year old (p***yhole) man on a bus while on her way to school. Passengers on the bus battled to save Christina’s life by giving her CPR until paramedics arrived at the scene, but despite their efforts, the schoolgirl was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hundreds of tweets and tributes are being left by the minute on Twitter and many people have called for the most servere punishment for the person responsible for the stabbing. Many share their condolences and thoughts for her friends and family. Others have shared their fears of travelling on public transport.

The tragic incident took place on Hagley Road in Five Ways Birmingham City Centre at approx 7.30am. A man was seen running from the scene which launched a city wide man hunt.

Officers from across West Midlands Police force, including police dog handlers and firearms officers were involved in the manhunt for the person responsible. They saw a man fitting the description and acting suspicious and a chase took place before the man was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Leasowes High School in Halesowen, the school Christina attended, are working with police and a team of counsellors to provide support to their pupils and staff. The headteacher described Chiristina as”a bright and popular student” who was “much loved by staff and students alike”.

He added: “We are deeply saddened to hear this tragic news and our thoughts and hearts go out to her family and everyone who knew her.”

Knife crime is a massive issue that needs tackling, and many feel enough is not being done as knives are so readily available for young people to buy and obtain. Sentencing is now much more harse for people convicted of knife crime, but this is not a deterrent to young people.

The law states that it is illegal to:

• sell a knife of any kind (including cutlery and kitchen knives) to anyone under 18
• carry a knife in public without good reason – unless it’s a knife with a folding blade 3 inches long (7.62 cm) or less, eg a Swiss Army knife
• carry, buy or sell any type of banned knife (the list of banned knives is below)
• use any knife in a threatening way (even a legal knife, such as a Swiss Army knife)
• At the recent National Youth Summit in Glasgow, the issue of knife crime and what is being done to tackle it was being discussed at a conference.
• Law states thats there are some reason when it’s acceptable to carry a knife. Examples of good reasons to carry a knife in public can include:
• taking knives you use at work to and from work
• you’re taking knives to a gallery or museum to be exhibited
• the knife is going to be used for theatre, film, television, historical re-enactment or religious purposes (eg the kirpan some Sikhs carry)

There is a complete ban on the sale of some knives:

• flick knives (also called ‘switch blades’ or ‘automatic knives’) – where the blade is hidden inside the handle and shoots out when a button is pressed
• butterfly knives – where the blade is hidden inside a handle that splits in two around it, like wings; the handles swing around the blade to open or close it
• disguised knives – eg where the blade is hidden inside a belt buckle or fake mobile phone
• gravity knives
• sword-sticks
• samurai swords (with some exceptions, including antiques and swords made to traditional methods before 1954)
• hand or foot-claws
• push daggers
• hollow kubotan (cylinder-shaped keychain) holding spikes
• shuriken (also known as ‘death stars’ or ‘throwing stars’)
• kusari-gama (sickle attached to a rope, cord or wire)
• kyoketsu-shoge (hook-knife attached to a rope, cord or wire)
• kusari (weight attached to a rope, cord or wire)
• Knife Crime Statistics

During the year to June 2012 there were approximately 29,613 recorded offences involving knives or other sharp instruments, accounting for 7% of selected offences, a similar proportion to previous years. The number of knife offences recorded was 9% lower than in the preceding year.

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSES) in 2011/12 a knife was used in 6% of all incidents of violence experienced by adults, similar to the previous year’s proportion

• Over the year to the end of June 2012 there were 19,382 disposals given for possession of a knife or offensive weapon.
• Juveniles (aged 10-17) were the offenders in 17% of cases.
• The custody rate was 10% for juveniles and 28% for adults.

A Court of Appeal judgement in May 2008 said that magistrates should normally sentence those convicted of knife crime possession offences at the top end of the range. Following this custody rates and average custodial sentence lengths have risen.

This killing a tragic and such a sad loss of a young girl who had her whole life ahead of her. Condolences go out to her family and friends.