Armed gangs who are terrorising a town have prompted a bereaved mother to warn that more children are likely to die.
The mum, who believes her young son killed himself over death threats directed at him and the family, has pleaded with the hooligans to “stop ruining lives”.
In a separate incident in the town, Khayri McLean, 15, was stabbed to death last month outside his school. Two youths have been charged with murder.
Weeks earlier a man had his hand sliced off at a nearby working men’s club.
And in another broad daylight attack recently, two youths were wounded outside a town centre church in a stabbing attack involving a samurai sword.
Locals say the knife culture in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has reached “epidemic” levels. Police were given special powers for the third time recently after a masked gang ran through the streets with machetes.
But despite dawn raids, residents say they are still terrified. One shocked man saw youths sharpening their knives on a wall near his home.
Others say they are too scared to open their doors because gang members have been running into their homes to hide from rivals.
Anne Marshall told the Mirror how her son Jamie, 14, was threatened on Snapchat the night before he took his own life in a nearby field three years ago.
She said: “The police need to do better. We’re going to lose more of our children.”
Anne, 39, added in a direct message to the gangs: “You’re playing stupid games and ruining people’s lives for ever, ruining families’ lives. Just stop. Nobody needs to carry knives.”
Talking about her son’s death, she said: “He had no mental health problems, no previous attempts, no self-harm issues.
“This all came from him being threatened that he would be stabbed to death and that they would kill me afterwards.”
A Snapchat message, seen by the Mirror, which was sent to Jamie, said: “I’ll kill your whole family.”
Anne said: “They’re carrying knives that have serrated blades... machetes and samurai swords. These children are walking around with them, tucked into their pants and in their bags.
“How many more children have to die? How many more children have to be too scared to go outside?”
She said Jamie was told he would be killed on his way to school because of the way his hair had been cut.
Anne added that despite police being told about the perpetrator, a boy not much older than Jamie, officers did not interview him for nine months.
The mum said she was told that in a police interview the boy admitted making threats to kill with a knife, but that officers did not press charges as it did not reach the threshold for intent and because the boy had no previous convictions.
Anne now blogs to raise awareness of knife crime on Tiktok and Instagram.
In Huddersfield there are at least five main gangs operating in Fartown, Brackenhall, Dalton, Deighton, Rawthorpe and Walpole.
A former gang member in the town, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mirror: “I live in a gang-affiliated area and I’ve lived on the blocks all my life. I know what it’s like.
“Kids are running the areas, and residents are too scared to say stuff.
“The situation is crazy and it’s only going to get worse. They go on each other’s territory and start sh**. Recently the Fartown lot went up to Dalton with samurai swords...
“All they see is the gangs, so that’s their role models. It’s an epidemic. They know where the weapons are. It’s very organised. It’s like a network with links all around the country. Gangs are affiliated with each other as far as London.”
Knife crime has soared in England and Wales over the past 10 years, with a 46% rise in offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, according to an anti-knife crime charity.
The ex-gang member said travelling to London or Manchester is called going OT, meaning “out there”, to get drugs from homes where vulnerable addicts live, which is called “trapping”.
He added: “A lot of it is poverty. They see their mum [who is a single parent] working two or three jobs and they are seeing a man on the road earning more money in a day than the mother gets a week.
“When I was involved you could have gang members from all over Huddersfield joining crews but these days it is a postcode matter.
“The slightest word taken the wrong way on Snapchat can see you in serious trouble.
“It’s amazing how quickly these people can turn on one another. It could be over a girl, drugs, money, and alleged slights and that’s it ‘Boom! Boom!’. I think there will be more deaths ahead.
“It’s all fuelled by Americanised music, hip-hop and drill, which is a massive influence. I’ve tried to teach my kids ‘don’t look at the glitter what the olders show you; the money, the clothes, the cars – you could end up in the graveyard or the jail’.”
Gang culture is being glamorised online. In Fartown, where Khayri was killed, a rapper recently posted a video showing a “gang” making gun signs and calling for an increase in the murder rate in the town.
Community activist Stephen Knight, 54, who is from Huddersfield, said: “We need a combined 10-year plan with police, council and community groups.
“It’s happening everywhere, not just Huddersfield. It’s scary now.
“I’ve had a gun shoved in my face, I’ve had a machete pulled on me over the last 15/20 years but I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near any more. They are not scared of getting caught.”
Chief Supt James Griffiths, District Commander of Kirklees police, said: “I fully understand residents’ concerns but can reassure them the force and partners have absolutely invested resources in tackling this issue and we have been bringing knife crime down in Kirklees district.
“Crimes involving knives have fallen year on year in Kirklees since 2019, with a 6% reduction in offences in the 12 months up to August 2022.
“Violent crime has also reduced by 17% in the same 12-month period.”
He said a dedicated team seized 67 weapons from the streets of Kirklees between March and September and made 222 arrests.
Chief Supt Griffiths added: “Further reducing knife and gang crime will remain our focus in the coming weeks.
“And residents will continue to see high visibility police operations in their neighbourhoods.”
