“As easy as buying a loaf of bread” – The mother of tragic Ronan Kanda speaks at the knife crime summit in Downing Street

Pooja Kanda has repeatedly called on the Government to do more to tackle knife crime, as the number of serious crimes and murders involving youths has increased. Her 16-year-old son Ronan died in Mount Road, Lanesfield, on June 29 last year after a teenager fatally stabbed him in the heart following a case of mistaken identity.

She is part of a coalition of groups and families of victims meeting in Downing Street this morning with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Hollywood actor Idris Elba, an anti-knife attack campaigner.

At the meeting, she said she was “horrified, absolutely horrified” at what was available to her son's killer.

She said: “It was as easy as buying a loaf of bread at the supermarket.”

She called for action, saying: “I am not a policy expert on crime reduction. I am a grieving mother.”

“But I will do everything in my power to ensure that the mistakes that led to my son's murder are corrected.”

“It amazes me how easy it is to buy these weapons and have them delivered straight to your home without any control or responsibility.”

The Prime Minister said he wanted to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online and promised to “double down” his efforts to combat knife crime.

“Far too many knives are too easily available, whether online or by mail,” he said.

There are examples of knives purchased online being shipped without any markings, and people then picking them up without any identification and then using those knives

It's just too shocking. It has to be dealt with.

“Before the election, I made commitments to the people around this table and to others that I would take decisive action against knife crime. And that is determination.”

“Now I want to reaffirm that commitment. It was not a commitment that was made before the election and then forgotten about – I think many people are far too familiar with this kind of politics.”

Luther star Elba, who has already met with Mr Starmer, said: “Talk is good, but action is important.”

“We needed joined-up thinking, we needed so many different perspectives: the perspective of parents, the perspective of youth workers, the perspective of charities, the administration, the police – we need to bring all of these perspectives together at the table when we think about this.”

“We will not put an end to knife crime. We cannot do that, it is not realistic.”

“But we can create the conditions for this to happen. Of course, the focus is on young people – my son is 10 and I hope that the work we do every year and that we continue to drive forward can help him when he is 16.”

“There are children today between the ages of 16 and 24 who are in a cycle that we may not be able to help, but with our interconnected thinking we can help future generations.”