Father of murdered teenager Charlie Cosser calls for knife crime on school curriculum

Charlie Cosser's father calls for greater education of knife crime on the national curriculum and tougher punishments for people carrying weapons. He's been speaking to ITV News Meridian's James Dunham

The father of a teenager stabbed to death in West Sussex says the school curriculum needs to focus more on real life lessons about knife crime.

17-year-old Charlie Cosser was stabbed three times in the chest at a party in Warnham in July last year.

His killer, who was 16 at the time, was found guilty of murder last week but he can't be named currently. Speaking to ITV News Meridian, Charlie's father, Martin Cosser, revealed plans for a permanent memorial to his son as the charity in his son's name, Charlie's Promise, looks to raise more awareness on knife crime.

Mr Cosser said: "It starts with education. I think about what happened in our murder trial and there were a number of kids who were aware that there was a knife at the party that night.

"I don't want to blame them but the truth is if knife crime had been in the curriculum, they may have done something about it and my son might still be alive.

"Since Charlie died, I've had a number of schools reach out to me but it's a small collection. There are other schools that I've approached that almost just don't want to address it.

"That's not good enough."

• Martin Cosser says it's become almost fashionable to take a knife out

Charlie died two days after being stabbed.

The talented young footballer, who dreamed of becoming a groundsman at Chelsea, was caught up in a fight, along with two other boys, and the defendant who had been asked to leave the gathering following a complaint from a girl.

Despite still grieving, Charlie's family started Charlie's promise with his heartbreaking story being shared in schools.

The charity also offers emotional support to people affected by knife crime and is calling for tougher punishments.

Mr Cosser said, "For the young children that are caught with knives, we're not giving them custodial sentences because our prisons are overcrowded. We need to address it.

"We must address it because if there's no deterrent these kids that decide to take the wrong turn in life or have got mixed up in circles that maybe they didn't want to, or are just that way inclined, they're never going to change because there's nothing there to stop them."

Asked what he would say to the future Prime Minister, Charlie's father added, "I'd say come and spend the day with me outside.

"Come and spend the day with the family that have lost a child, start paying close attention to this, because this is the lives that are being lost. Families are being destroyed by this.

"My family, we talk about our past world and we talk about a new world, our life without Charlie is not a life that we enjoy.

"We've forgotten what it's like to be happy, life is just a process. To be honest, it's just process.

"I've always been pretty well organised as a person. I'm pretty sharp. I now live my life through an old A4 diary. I have to write down what I'm doing. If you ask me what I did yesterday, I can't remember because of the mental torment.

"The impact it's had on me and all of my family is huge...two of Charlie's friends have had to pull out their A-levels. One of them's receiving counseling.

"My daughter's not been able to do her GCSEs. I mean, it goes on and on and on and on and on. So I would say to the next Prime Minister, I would say to any politician, start taking this seriously."

The devastated Cosser family haven't been able to start grieving yet as they've faced a rollercoaster of emotions since his son's death.

Heartbreak turned to relief when Charlie's killer initially plead guilty, but after being allowed to vacate his plea in court, a trial took place.

His family had to sit through harrowing details of Charlie's last moments.

"We are told as a family the defendant's pled guilty. There is an element of relief, still incredible sadness, but we were all set and ready to go for sentencing.

"The police stopped their investigation. They hadn't found the weapon. They didn't need to go and find it. They stopped interviewing people.

"Then we are told that he's allowed to basically change his mind. And we had to wait six months. We haven't even been able to start grieving.

"And not only that, the scars that we have already, that are already part of us through the loss of Charlie and watching the life drain out of him as we switched off his life support machine, having to go to my son's funeral...and then we have to wait another six months and then endure a murder trial that originally was set for two weeks, it lasted into the fourth week, and hear all about the last moments, how Charlie was found on his own.

"They were things, if he wasn't allowed to vacate his plea in the first place, we would never have had to hear."

A bench at the Devil's Punchbowl beauty spot in Surrey, where Charlie loved to visit, will soon be named after him.

Meanwhile, the teenage boy who murdered him, is due to be sentenced on Wednesday 19th June.

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