Good thinking... Ly Nguyen’s prize from knife victim’s sister Brooke Kinsella

Published: 29 January 2010
by CONRAD LANDIN

THE sister of murdered teenager Ben Kinsella has presented prizes to Islington schoolchildren in an anti-knife crime creative writing competition.
After seeing a play on knife crime last November, pupils at Robert Blair primary school were encouraged to submit poems, essays and stories on the subject.
Brooke Kinsella, sister of Ben who was murdered aged 16 in June 2008, attended a special assembly at the school in Holloway.
She said: “I am happy to be part of this as we need to get the anti-knife crime message across to children at an early stage. Schemes like this by Islington Council have achieved that, and I hope these will continue and expand.”
Pupil Ly Nguyen won first prize with her poem “You Think”.
The council’s community safety chief Lib Dem councillor Barbara Smith, who also attended the assembly, said: “The standard of writing was excellent, and showed how deeply pupils had thought about the terrible effects knives have on innocent lives.
“We’re committed to helping stop knife crime in Islington, and competitions like this help spread the message among young people.”
The competition was sponsored by Southern Electric Contracting Ltd.