Pride of Britain London winner: One father's promise to honour his son Charlie Cosser's legacy

ITV News London has crowned Martin Cosser as our Pride Of Britain fundraiser of the Year Award winner, as Daisy Busel reports

Martin Cosser made a promise as he watched his teenage son dying in hospital, after he'd been stabbed at a party - to spend the rest of my life educating young groups of people about the dangers of knife crime.

Just over a year later and he's already raised £200,000 for his anti-knife crime charity Charlie's Promise.

In July 2023, Charlie was stabbed at an end of term party in Sussex.

The 17-year-old talented young footballer, died two days later.

Remembering the moment Martin Cosser said: "He was surrounded by family and friends and and, , everyone came to say goodbye to cheeks, and, , I called him cheeks because he had a cheeky, smart I I named him that when he was three months old.

"My little boy died at 17 because someone thought it was all right to put a knife into when we were told that he was gonna die and we were gonna have to switch off his life support, I made Charlie a promise.

"I said, I promise you I will spend the rest of my life educating young groups of people about the dangers of knife crime.

"You will have a legacy, son, because you're not old enough to have built your own."

So now Martin goes into schools, he tells the children about his aspirations and to talk about what knife crime does to a family.

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