Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has met with the parents of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose, who was stabbed to death at his Sheffield school in February.
Mark and Caroline Willgoose believe that more should be done to fully prevent knife crime.
Speaking to BBC Look North following the meeting, Mrs Willgoose was really pleased with how it had gone and added that Ms Cooper was going to work with them.
Mrs Wilgoose said: “She knows it goes a lot deeper, and we need to educate kids about carrying knives and the impact it has on families, and the impact it’s had on us.”
Continuing on social media, she added: “We will never stop fighting for you Harvey. We will make things change for our children in your name.”
The couple insist that knife arches, large scale metal detectors, must be brought into schools to prevent any further incidents.
Over the past three years, more than 100 children have been caught bringing knives into schools in South Yorkshire.
A petition supporting this demand reached over 40,000 signatures.
The home secretary has met bereaved parents before. She spoke to Pooja Kanda last month, mother of murdered Wolverhampton teenager Ronan Kanda.
Ronan Kanda’s family have heavily campaigned for stricter laws regarding weapons and their availability.
“Ronan’s Law”, the anti-knife crime scheme named after the teenager, sets in place rules such as online retailers being required to report any suspicious activity such as bulk purchases.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that ninja swords are set to be banned outright from 1 August, following relentless campaigning.
Earlier this month, Leon Sykes, 19, and Ramaray Treasure, 18, were sentenced to 13 years and 12 years respectively in a young offender institution for a stabbing on West Street on 9 March last year.
15,182 separate incidents of knife crime were recorded by the Metropolitan Police across March 2024 to February 2025.
