Robert Knox (right) with his mother Sally and younger brother Jamie
Posted on 05/24/2008 5:26:44 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
A teenage actor who appears in the next Harry Potter film was stabbed to death trying to protect his younger brother from a knifeman yesterday.
Robert Knox, 18, who acted alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, became the 28th teenager killed in Britain this year, and the 10th in London to die from stab wounds.
Relatives said his role as Marcus Belby in the film, due for release in November, was set to launch his career as an actor.
Mr Knox was a member of the same rugby club as Jimmy Mizen, the 16-year-old "gentle giant" fatally stabbed in nearby Lee, south-east London, two weeks ago.
In a statement, Rob's parents, Sally and Colin Knox, said: "Rob was kind and thoughtful and would always help out others – he would always spend his last penny on other people instead of himself. The life and soul of the party, he was very outgoing, loved sports, and would always strike up a conversation with people.
"He was respectful to others and adored by all his family and friends. He was an asset to the family."
The murder will reignite a debate about youth crime, knives, and whether the criminal justice system is working. Figures obtained by The Telegraph show that out of more than 60,000 people prosecuted for possessing knives since 1997, only nine have been given the maximum jail term.
The Home Office and Boris Johnson, the new Mayor of London, have introduced measures including police stop-and-search and knife scanners at schools, pubs and clubs, in an attempt to curb their use. Yet the Children's Commissioner for England claimed yesterday that such measures could fuel resentment.
Sir Al Aynsley-Green called the increased police powers "contentious" and told the BBC: "There is a balance here. On the one hand for young people to feel safer by having the presence of the police – but on the other hand making sure the new powers don't create further antagonism by increased stopping and searching."
Mr Knox, a grammar school boy, is understood to have been fatally stabbed after trying to save his 16-year-old brother, Jamie, from a man armed with two knives.
The man began attacking drinkers outside the Metro bar, next to Sidcup railway station, south-east London. Witnesses said that the attacker had earlier been thrown out by bouncers, but returned in the early hours with several friends.
Tarik Ozresberoglu, 17, a trainee steel worker, described how he tried to stem the flow of blood from Mr Knox's wounds then rugby-tackled the attacker into submission.
He said that he was chatting to Rob when the attacker appeared. "He pulled out two wooden kitchen knives at least 6in long from his waistband, and said 'Who's going to make my day then?'
"Girls were screaming. Jamie, Rob's brother, came over and said 'a boy has pulled a knife on me'. I held Rob back, but he pushed me out of the way and said 'he's threatened my little brother'.
"Rob was angry, but he's never started any trouble in his life. I think he just wanted to protect his younger brother. Rob went up to the bloke, who stabbed him four times.
"Rob stumbled back, lifted up his top and we saw the blood seeping from his wounds.
"I took my jumper off and tried to wrap it round Rob's wounds. Then as I was trying to do that, I saw the guy was still stabbing people. I told my friend Charlie Grimley, who had also been stabbed, to look after Rob. Then I ran over to the bloke and rugby-tackled him into a bush."
Struggling to control his emotions, Mr Ozresberoglu added: "I might have felt a hero if Rob was still here, but what I did is never going to bring Rob back. I might have saved more people from being stabbed but Rob still isn't here."
He said he thought Mrs Knox was allowed to hold her son in her arms as he lay dying on the pavement. "She was just crying and crying, sobbing 'why my Rob?'."
A number of drinkers were hurt, including Dean Saunders, 21, Nick Jones, 19, Mr Grimley, 17, and 16-year-old Andrew Dormer. Russell Wood, 21, said that he saw Mr Saunders stabbed in the neck three times .
Mr Wood said: "This guy started accusing everybody of nicking his mobile phone. He made me turn out my pockets. The bouncers chucked him out. But the next thing we knew this chap was outside with about five of his mates. Everybody just tried to get the knife off him and in the process, it seemed, too many people got stabbed."
Mr Grimley described how Mr Knox went to his rescue after the attacker "pulled out two knives and said 'Who wants this?'"
"Rob was just trying to look out for his mate," said Mr Grimley. "My stab wound had fractured my cheek bone. Rob saw me get stabbed, tried to get the knife off the bloke and was stabbed himself."
Mr Knox's father, Colin, was for many years the junior chairman of Sidcup Rugby Club, where Danny Mizen, Jimmy's brother, was a captain. Danny Mizen said last night: "My thoughts are with his family."
Kevin May, 42, Mr Knox's uncle, said: "Where's it all going to end? When is this violence and the carrying of knives by young people going to stop? Something's got to be done. Two stabbings in two weeks is too much."
A spokesman for Warner Brothers, the makers of the Harry Potter films, said: "We are deeply shocked by the news and our thoughts and sympathy are with the family."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A man aged 21 has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He is being held in custody. We do not believe the incident is gang-related."
The new figures on sentencing for knife crime, released by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, were seized on as evidence that courts are failing to heed ministers' repeated demands for a crackdown on those who carry knives.
The Tories called the statistics "shocking" and accused ministers of "failing to get a grip" on a big increase in knife crime since Labour came to power.
The maximum sentence for carrying a knife in a public place is two years in jail, rising to four years if the offence was committed in a school. In 1997, 4,466 people were convicted of "having an article with a blade or point in a public place", a figure that rose to 7,654 by 2006. There were 60,366 prosecutions over the 10-year period, of which 47,338 resulted in a conviction.
Over the same period, 495 people were prosecuted for having a knife in a school. Of these, 479 were found guilty, yet only nine people were given the maximum possible sentence, Mr Straw admitted. James Brokenshire, the shadow home affairs minister, called the findings "disturbing".
Knife crime facts
* 14 teenagers have been stabbed to death in Britain this year
* A third of murders are committed with knives
* Four per cent of young people aged 10 to 25 admitted in a Home Office survey to having carried a knife in the previous 12 months
* 550 metal-detecting wands and 244 metal-scanning arches have been deployed by the Metropolitan Police across inner London boroughs as part of its stop-and-search operation
* 934 knives, guns and other lethal weapons were seized from children in schools between 2005 and 2007
* One in three young people living in inner cities thinks it is acceptable to carry a knife in self-defence, a survey found
This is a sad one. Prayer for this young soul.
Sounds like they need to clamp down harder on knives.. /s
It is the knives...yes that’s what it is. It is not the animalistic gangs and such. No it couldn’t be the poor misunderstood hooligans. No its the knives. Knives are sharp and just beg to be stabbed into someone.
Dreadful. RIP. Prayers for the family.
If’n they had a gun.....oh right, Britain.
Prayers for the young hero, may he Rest In Peace, and for his family.
If it proves anything, though, it proves that society will never be able to disarm the criminal element. They've pretty much succeeded in taking all the guns away from their citizens, so the criminals just find another weapon of choice.
Criminals will always be criminals, and that's why it's so important for the law abiding to be able to arm themselves for self-defense.
And yet there is barely a word about the attacker himself:
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "A man aged 21 has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He is being held in custody. We do not believe the incident is gang-related."
Robert Knox (right) with his mother Sally and younger brother Jamie
This article names all kinds of people, but not a mention of the perp ....
Sad. I can remember when every little boy carried a pocket knife to school.
The Labour Party needs to do something about the knives! /s
Well there goes pencils and pens
These were kitchen knives and the attack happened outside.
Either kitchen cuttlery will become unobtainable or else the police are going to go frisking everyone on the street.
It is the wrong solution to England's crime problem.
And the weapons that thugs make on the street in England are comparable to prison made weapons. Things like a razor blade affixed to a toothbrush, a wooden bat/club with 20+ spikes/nails coming out of it, etc.
Summer knives amnesty announced
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4694278.stm
Wednesday, 8 February 2006
A national knife amnesty has been announced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke in a bid to halt the rise in crimes involving the weapons. ...
... Mr Clark said tackling knife culture, particularly among young people, was "paramount" to community safety.
...Tony Melville, of the Association of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales, said it was an opportunity to reduce the opportunity for people to commit violent crime.
..."Taking knives off our streets will save lives and cut crime. Every weapon that is handed in is one that cannot be used in causing the horrific injuries or even worse that is often associated with knives."
There is no England now.
Sad. I guess they need knife control laws.
I’ve read that it’s actually illegal to defend oneself in Britain. Is this true?
This article brings back really bad memories:
My younger brother had his throat sliced while trying to save my life from a group of hispanic gang members trying to rob and kill me at a gas station.
Thank God my brother survived............. he has a permanent scar going across his throat.
Our societies in the west need to wake up and realize that these young kids in gangs are being bred to be expert murderers, thieves, and rapists. It’s time we get rid of liberal politicians that don’t believe in hammering gang members hard with the law.
Sad HP Ping...
I guess they could point to Mexico to relieve some of their criticism. RIP young one.
The abject stupidity evident in this sentence is breathtaking.
And yet there is barely a word about the attacker himself:
Any bets on why?
I carried a pocket knife from the time I was age 7 until it became too inconvenient to risk having the Thugs Standing Around confiscate my property because I forgot to clear my pockets before a flight.
I was able to bring a rifle and/or shotgun to school in the trunk of my car for participation in the rifle and shotgun shooting club activities after school. In today's world, the school would be on lock down with armed SWAT officers all over the place and my butt would be headed for a jail cell. What of bunch of sissified weenies we have become.
Knives, razors, and spears should be outlawed and confiscated.
Electric shavers only allowed now.
That’s right. If guns weren’t outlawed, he could have protected his brother and himself against the knife wielding attacker.
Thank G-D we have the Second Amendment and right to carry laws here in America, at least in most of America.
Islamic law says you should keep your beard but trim it...
How will people chop their garlic, mushrooms, and tomatoes?
My brother in law was stabbed in the lung because he was waiting for a bus and porta Rican’s asked him for money and he said no.My daughter’s friend was shot through the heart because a black man asked him for his money.He gave it to him-my daughter’s friend was black and just finished working.The guy shot him and killed him in a parking lot of a restaurant that he worked at.
Think it is time that 'Liberalism' was held accountable as a crime of it's own, against society. . .and brought before a Jury trial.
Think it is time that 'Liberalism' was held accountable as a crime of it's own, against society. . .and brought before a Jury trial.
Think it is time that 'Liberalism' was held accountable as a crime of it's own, against society. . .and brought before a Jury trial.
I agree on all three counts! :^)
It says the perp is 21 years old but not what gender.
Pretty soon, the only thing that the English will allow people to carry is a stick. Well-padded, of course.
...after trying to save his 16-year-old brother, Jamie, from a man armed with two knives.
Until some wayward walking cane up and hurts someone - all on it’s own, of course.
God, the loonies really are running the asylum...
They’ll have to pound them with rocks, at least until rocks are outlawed.
Harry Potter actor stabbed to death in mobile phone vendetta
From The Sunday Times May 25, 2008
Police said the killing was not gang-related and yesterday, as friends laid flowers at the murder scene, close to Sidcup railway station, Lee Bentley, manager of the Metro bar, said the attack appeared to have been triggered by a row over the alleged theft of a mobile phone.“Nine days ago, a guy came to the bar and caused trouble,” said Bentley. “He accused [Knox’s friend] Dean Saunders of stealing his phone and hit him in the face. We cleaned up Dean and barred the man.”
But the man, who is black and in his twenties, returned on Friday night armed with two knives and tried entering the bar, where Knox was a regular drinker.
What happened next is unclear, but Jade Nicholson, an assistant bar manager, said: “I saw Rob go outside and shout, ‘You pulled a knife on my brother, someone call the police’.”
You will only be allowed a Food Genie from Ronco.
It chops, it slices, it dices!
And, it is allowed under the No Blades Act.
(after all, it’s for the children)
(diclaimer; The Food Genie should not be used by anyone under 26 years of age without adult supervision or Government approval.)
Knives are banned in the UK.
Home Office spokesperson said there were already extensive restrictions in place to control the sale and possession of knives.
“...an article with a point...”
So carry only liberal magazines next time you’re in Britain.
“Eat your pablum daily.” - The Home Office
The UK men have a problem with alcohol.
That being said, the actions of this teen actor are heroic. Very sad for his younger brother.
From what I'm seeing, that's not out o' the realm of possibility.
I agree completely!
These gang members are like rabid wild ferral dogs roaming the streets. i can not believe a civilized nation would tolerate this.
BTW, you have a beautiful wife and daughter on your home page!
“npt a mention of the perp”
A 21 year old man and “youth crime” pretty well states what the article won’t.
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