 Kiyan Prince. Photograph: QPR/PA |
Friday May 19, 2006
The move came as the head of the London Academy in Edgware, where Kiyan Prince was murdered yesterday, said the school had raised the issue of tackling the threat of knife crime only two weeks ago.
Kiyan, a promising footballer who played in the Queens Park Rangers youth team, was attacked following an argument with another black teenager outside the school gates.
BBC News 24 reported that his suspected killer, who ran off following the stabbing, was of Somali extraction and had a history of violent behaviour.
“There’s a real issue of knives in the community,” Phil Hearne, the academy’s head, said. “It’s our first encounter with knives as a school community … an amazingly tragic outcome from that.
“We were talking with our parent-teachers’ association and parents’ forum two weeks ago about knives and … the kind of things we could put into place to ensure the youngsters and staff here were safe.”
Mr Hearne paid tribute to Kiyan, saying the teenager was “highly regarded” throughout the school “not just for his footballing skills but as an individual”.
“He has an older sister who is here and his mum, I believe, is a teacher. They will be absolutely devastated – [they are] a lovely family.”
The school and local council were today providing counselling to pupils.
Teachers found Kiyan covered in blood outside Stamford Court, a block of flats on Kings Drive, close to the school, at 3.35pm yesterday. An ambulance was called, but he died at the Royal London hospital two hours later.
Mr Hearne said he had heard reports that the youngster had the potential to be as good a footballer as Theo Walcott, who has been called into England’s World Cup squad.
“The key thing to successful footballers is not just the skills they actually have, but the attitude,” he said.
“The one thing that shines through all Kiyan’s reports from QPR is his attitude. A lot of young people aspire to be footballers, but unless you have that mental factor, you don’t get very far.”
Joe Gallen, the head of youth at QPR, said Kiyan was “an intelligent, smart, good-looking, young man with a very bright future in the game” and would be “sorely missed”, and a club spokesman said the murder had left people “completely shocked”.
A Metropolitan police spokesman said knife crime had not previously been a “major issue” in the borough of Barnet, with an average of two knife-related offences per week committed.
He said patrols were being stepped up “in light of the recent tragic event”. A youth conference had been scheduled to take place in Barnet later this month to encourage children to stay away from weapons, he added.
Kiyan’s murder came days before a Home Office knife amnesty designed to combat Britain’s growing problem with knife crime and a week after special constable Nisha Patel-Nasri was stabbed to death outside her home in north-west London.
Campaigners say the incidents are evidence of Britain’s worsening knife culture.
Souce: Guardian, May 19, 2006
