Charlie Cosser: Father pledges to tackle knife crime 'pandemic'

Charlie Cosser was stabbed in July at a house party in the village of Warnham, near Horsham.

In the months following the 17-year-old’s tragic death a few days later, Charlie’s family and friends have come together to campaign for a  crackdown on knife crime.

His father Martin Cosser told The Argus he had made two promises to Charlie while in hospital.

He said: “I promised him I would get justice for him and that I would campaign and educate young people on the dangers of knife crime.

“It’s the biggest promise I’ve ever made in my life."

Martin said that knife crime is becoming a greater issue across the country and ruining more lives.

“You only need to go online or look at the latest news stories and you’ll see there has been another stabbing,” he said.

“It’s horrendous, it’s becoming a pandemic.”

Martin plans to launch a charity in his son’s name, Charlie’s Promise, as part of his effort to educate young people and warn them against carrying a knife.

He and some of Charlie’s friends will visit schools and youth clubs and speak about their harrowing experience.

Charlie's friends and family outside Lewes Crown Court (Image: Martin Cosser)

Martin also plans to organise one-to-one mentoring and workshops to do his bit to address the scourge of knife crime.

A JustGiving campaign for the charity has already raised £3,000 and Martin is to visit Downing Street to meet the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Justice Secretary Alex Chalk later this month.

For Martin, addressing knife crime is a two-front approach - education and a strong and clear deterrent.

He said: “My personal view is that if you are found guilty of taking an innocent person’s life, you have no right to ever be free. A life should mean a life.

“Why does somebody deserve to be rehabilitated? Why do they deserve to come out and get all the things my son will never get, like get married or have a family?

“I think our justice system is broken and I think a lot of sentencing laws need to be looked at.”

He also called for greater action to clamp down on the availability of dangerous weapons, particularly over the internet.

In an impassioned message to anyone thinking about carrying a knife, Martin said that problems they might be facing are temporary and can be resolved but “death is final”.

“If you kill someone, there is no going back. It’s the end," he said

“This has absolutely destroyed not just us as a family, but so many other people.

“You need to think about your actions because your actions have consequences.”

Donations to Martin’s JustGiving campaign in memory of Charlie can be made at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/martin-cosser.

All the money donated will be transferred to the Charlie’s Promise charity once it is founded in the new year.

The Argus is publishing this story to back Martin Cosser's plans for the Charlie's Promise charity, as one of the aims of our new Cut Knife Crime campaign is education and awareness.

Martin Cosser spoke to The Argus as he backed our campaign.

This article is part of our Cut Knife Crime campaign.

Our mission is to reduce knife crime and the number of people being injured and killed in stabbings through:

• Increasing the use of knife amnesty bins.
• Educating young people about knife crime and making them aware of the effects it has on not just the victim, but those around them
• Having more bleed control kits in pubs, shops and businesses