Yvonne Lawson OBE, whose son was stabbed to death in Stamford Hill 11 years ago is urging the public to report information about knife crime.

Godwin, a 17-year-old budding athlete, attending a football academy at the time of his death, was killed in 2010 when trying to stop a knife attack on his friend.

Mrs Lawson shared the emotional turmoil she went through after she was told he had been murdered at the launch of a new campaign today (April 8) called ‘Hard Calls Save Lives’.

The initiative from the Met Police and the independent charity Crimestoppers is designed to encourage people to contact Crimestoppers anonymously with information about knife crime, to help prevent more deaths.

Mrs Lawson and four other mothers, who also lost their sons to knife crime, feature in a series of short films where they each reflect on the hardest calls they had to make after their sons were fatally stabbed.

Godwin and his friend had gone out for dinner, and he had called his mother to tell her he’d be late coming home.

Mrs Lawson said she rang her sister after the police informed her of her son’s death, and “just kept repeating: 'Died. Died. Died’."

She added: “My family is broken into pieces, just missing him. We didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye, and he’s never going to be there. He’s never going to be part of us anymore.

“The least we can do is use his memory to change lives," added Mrs Lawson founded a charity in her son’s memory in 2012.

At the campaign launch event Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said: “We’ve been looking at all the places, times and indeed individuals - prolific knife carriers - and trying to do our level best to be prepared to reduce as much as we possibly can any rise in street offences.”

Government figures show Hackney recorded the fifth-highest number of knife offences in London up to March 2020, with 752 cases.

Mrs Lawson said at the event: “We just need to all work together and just send a very strong message out there.

“It takes a village to bring up a child. So if you have got information please, please, please, make that hard call and save that precious life.”

To report information about knife crime anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800555111.