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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 26 September 2008

Ben’s sister: Get tough on knives

THE sister of stabbed teenager Ben Kinsella has called for tougher punishments for knife killers.
Former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella told Cherie Blair, QC, that judges were failing to send out a strong enough warning to perpetrators of knife crime.
She was speaking at a Broken Britain event staged at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester on Monday.
Ms Kinsella said: “When these people have done this and they have taken a life, are the sentences really being enforced? They still have a life, and my brother doesn’t have a life.”
Under new government measures, anyone over 16 caught with a knife will face automatic prosecution and risks a jail sentence of up to four years.
But Miss Kinsella told Ms Blair the tough measures were rarely followed through. She asked: “How many people are we locking up for four years?”
The actress also questioned why Britain was spending billions on the 2012 Olympics instead of using the money to tackle crime.
Ben Kinsella, 16, a star pupil of Holloway School, died in June on an end-of-exams night out with friends.
Juress Kika, 18, Michael Alleyne, 18, and Jade Braithwaite, 19, were charged with murder in July. All three remain in custody pending an Old Bailey hearing on October 13.

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