Mum's Heart-Breaking Account Of What It's Like To Lose Your Son To Knife Crime

13 April 2018, 07:25 | Updated: 13 April 2018, 08:55

This is the heart-breaking account from a mother of what it's like when your son is stabbed to death.

Nathan Murray, 18, was stabbed to death with a machete-type blade in Sydenham high street in the middle of the day in June 2015.

Since then, violent crime has been rising in the capital, with 56 suspected murders already so far this year, 35 of them are stabbings.

LBC reporter Rachael Venables took his Mum Juliet, Dad David and sister Malvina, back to the spot where he was killed.

Juliet said: "I feel pain each time for the families, both families, because the children that are doing the stabbing are victims themselves.

"I feel for the young children, for their families, I'm sure they're feeling the same pain that I'm feeling, because they've also lost their child.

"Both families are grieving, both families are feeling pain."

She talked about the use of children by gangs: "What is going on at the moment is abuse, very similar to sexual abuse, it's exploitation.

"There's a bigger picture to what is happening, they're being threatened, their families are being threatened."

Speaking about Nathan, his parents added: “Nathan was a very very funny, loving, kind person. He was so thoughtful. He loved to give you a hug, when he’d see his friends he’d give them such big hugs.

“He was very motivated. He was studying plumbing but wanted to be a business man. So we helped him buy some classic cars, to sell in a garage, but they came in two days after he was killed.”