Idris Elba has launched a campaign calling for the immediate banning of machetes and so-called zombie knives following a spate of stabbings across Britain.
The Luther star is also lobbying for more funding in youth services and releasing a song in an effort to tackle serious youth violence across the UK.
Elba will launch the campaign called Don’t Stop Your Future with an installation in Parliament Square, London, later today.
It comes amid a series of horrific stabbings across the UK including 16-year-old schoolboy Harry Pitman who was knifed to death as he stood and waited to watch the Primrose Hill New Year’s Eve fireworks in Camden last week.
The murder, which took place just minutes before midnight, made him at least the 17th teenager brutally killed in the capital in 2023 – most of those cruelly taken away from their loved ones in the last year had also been stabbed.
Idris Elba has launched a campaign calling for the immediate banning of machetes and so-called zombie knives following a spate of stabbings across Britain
Harry Pitman, 16, was knifed to death as he stood and waited to watch the Primrose Hill New Year’s Eve fireworks in Camden last week
Taye Faik was stabbed to death just yards from his home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Edmonton, north London on October 1
Speaking about the campaign, Elba said: ‘I can’t stay silent as more young lives are lost to these brutal and heartless crimes.
‘As school returns, too many young people will not be joining their classmates and too many grieving families have lost a young person they love in recent years.
‘Young people are our future, their potential deserves to be met, not taken away by violence.
‘Parliament has repeatedly not given this issue the focus it deserves, and our political leaders need to prioritise it now.
‘As well as an immediate ban on zombie knives and machetes, we need to give young people more of a reason not to carry a weapon in the first place.
‘That means investing in the services that address the root causes of violent crime.’
The campaign will fill Parliament Square with neatly folded outfits, with each bundle representing someone who has died through knife crime on UK streets.
The display intends to be a respectful tribute to the lives lost, while also shining a spotlight on the scale of the issue.
Schoolgirl Elianne Andam, 15, was stabbed to death on her way to school in Croydon, south London, in September with what was believed to be a large zombie knife
Maya Bracken was found with stab wounds inside a crashed Lexus on the A340 in Pangbourne
Elba is also releasing a song called Knives Down, which aims to give a voice to those most impacted by knife crime and to use the power of music to raise awareness.
Don’t Stop Your Future has produced a series of billboards highlighting the risk across the country, including in London, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
Alongside the immediate ban and focus on youth services, Elba is calling for the Government to convene a coalition to end knife crime: a cross-party, cross-governmental working group that brings together stakeholders who have a role to play in tackling knife crime.
Patrick Green, chief executive of anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: ‘Idris’s Don’t Stop Your Future campaign is a vital and much needed intervention to shine a spotlight on serious youth violence, which has been neglected for too long.
‘It’s horrifying that hardly a day goes by without the tragic news of someone being hurt, maimed, or even killed with a machete or zombie knife.’
In August 2023, the Home Office announced tougher measures on machetes and zombie-style knives would be introduced.
Machetes and knives designed to look intimidating and threatening would be made illegal, while the maximum penalty for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of these weapons would be increased to two years.
But progress on passing the new legislation through Parliament has been slow and several high-profile incidents have occurred since, including teenager Harry, who ‘did not have a bad bone in his body’, his family said.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed a fellow 16-year-old boy had been arrested on suspicion of murder. He has since been released on bail.
Harry’s grandfather, Phillip Woolveridge, fears the 6ft 3ins ‘cheeky chappy’ may have been targeted because of his height.
Phillip Woolveridge, 59, fears his 6ft 3in tall grandson Harry Pitman may have been stabbed to death at the Primrose Hill fireworks for being tall
In August 2023, the Home Office announced tougher measures on machetes and zombie-style knives would be introduced
West Midlands PCSO Rob Capella holds two examples of ‘zombie knives’ at a secure police location in Birmingham
Earlier last year, Taye Faik, 16, was stabbed to death just yards from his home in a quiet cul-de-sac in Edmonton, north London on October 1.
A 16-year-old girl last week became the third suspect to be charged with his murder.
The teenager, whose name is withheld because of her age, was first arrested on November 3 and was bailed while further enquiries were conducted.
Two other suspects, Josiah James Semper, 18 and Bernard Carroll, 20 have been charged and are both remanded in custody and are scheduled to appear before the court on February 16.
Schoolgirl Elianne Andam was stabbed to death on her way to school in Croydon, south London, in September with what was believed to be a large zombie knife.
And on Thursday, Mayawati Bracken, 56, known as Maya, was found fatally stabbed inside a luxury car in the sleepy rural village of Pangbourne, Berkshire.
Thames Valley Police were called to a road traffic collision involving a Lexus vehicle on the A340 Tidmarsh Road when they found Maya inside the car with a stab wound. She received medical attention but died at the scene.
Around half an hour later at 6.15pm, officers were called to a casualty on the railway track near Pangbourne station where an 18-year-old man, who has not yet been named, died of his injuries after being struck by a train.
The two incidents, which police say were ‘linked,’ has rocked the tiny village that has a population of just over 3k but has housed multiple celebrities with Kate Middleton living there while she attended prep school.
