Students at a Lichfield school learned first-hand about the impact of knife crime and violence when they were visited by a high-profile campaigner.
Alison Cope spoke to Year 9 students at Nether Stowe School about her own tragic experiences of violence and the death of her son, Joshua Ribera.
The 18-year-old – better known as rising grime star Depzman – was murdered in 2013 after he was stabbed in Birmingham.
Alison told the students how her son had staggered to a doorway before being taken to hospital where he lost his life hours later due to the knife piercing his heart.
She said:
“It was great to speak to the students at Nether Stowe and to share my story – and to tell them Josh’s story. It’s so important that we get across these messages to young people, so that they understand the consequences of making the wrong choices.
“For example, lots of young men think they need to carry knives for self-protection, thinking that everyone else has one. It’s a myth that means there are more and more knives on the streets.
“They also need to understand that posturing on their phones can very quickly escalate into something out of their control, and understand that just by being at the scene of an incident, and maybe filming it on their phone, they could be legally held accountable for it through joint enterprise.
“I know that the presentation is hard-hitting, but it’s important that we tell the truth about the impact of the decisions that they make.
“The way I tell my story and Josh’s story makes them think about their own family, and how it would impact on them and their loved ones.
“By making it personal in that way, it provides a reality check. Afterwards, students always want to talk to me about the presentation and how it has affected them – which shows that it is getting the message through.”
Alison Cope
Alison also showed the students a video, made using AI technology, which saw a ‘deep-fake’ version of Joshua performing a rap about the dangers of knife crime.
Emma Evans, who organised the visit for Nether Stowe School, said:
“Alison’s message is incredibly powerful because she is able to stand up in front of the students and say ‘I’ve lived this, and this is my journey – this really happened to me’.
“Young people are much more switched on these days than they have ever been, but are also much more vulnerable because of the three years they’ve had out of education due to the pandemic, which has in some ways led them to be more reliant on social media.
“So, these sorts of events are important because young people need to be shown that some of the messages they get from social media simply aren’t facts.”
Emma Evans
