Yvette Cooper describes harrowing video of dying teen in knife crackdown vow

10 October 2023 , 12:06

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Yvette Cooper has pledged a Labour Government will drive down knife crime as she hit out at Tory failings (Image: Getty Images)

Yvette Cooper has described her heartbreak after watching a video of a dying teen as his mum sang to him - vowing a Labour Government would get tough on knife crime.

The Shadow Home Secretary said watching the footage, shown to her by a mum in Hartlepool, was "one of the hardest things I have done in this job". She said the Tories have taken a "wrecking ball" to the criminal justice system and vowed to undo plummeting conviction rates - with new youth hubs to be rolled out to steer youngsters away from crime.

In a speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool she said: "Last year Keir and I met with a grieving mum in Hartlepool who showed us the video she kept on her phone of her cradling her teenage son in his hospital bed, singing to him as he lay dying from a knife wound.

"It was one of the hardest things I have done in this job. Families who feel like they have lost their future, but who are calling for us to help them save other children's lives." Ms Cooper also pledged police will use methods used to track terrorists to ensure that Britain's most dangerous sex offenders are taken off the streets. She said there must be no more cases like that of Raneem Oudeh, who repeatedly asked police for help after being threatened by her ex.

Raneem Oudeh, 22, was murdered outside her mother's home in Solihull in 2018 (BPM Media)

Mother and daughter Raneem Oudeh and Khaola Saleem were killed despite calling the police for help (BPM Media)

The Labour frontbencher said: "On the night Raneem and her mother Khaola were murdered they called 999 four times. But no one came. I am determined that no woman should ever be ignored or abandoned in this devastating way."

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She said rape investigation units will be put in every police force, while there will be domestic abuse experts in every 999 call centre, stating: "We will require police forces to use tactics normally reserved for organised crime or terrorist investigations. To identify and go after the most dangerous repeat abusers and rapists and get them off our streets."

Lashing out at the Tory record on crime, Ms Cooper said: "They have taken a wrecking ball to the criminal justice system, so 90% of crimes now go unsolved." And she continued: "Criminals laugh at the law, communities pay the price."

Ms Cooper accused the Tories of taking a 'wrecking ball' to the criminal justice system (Getty Images)

She added that knife crime had risen 70% in eight years, but added: "Yet far too little is done, and a generation is being failed. We must not fail them anymore." Pledging to get "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", Ms Cooper said a Labour Government will bring in a 10-year programme bringing together youth services and mental health support.

She reiterated plans to put 13,000 neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the streets, and to tackle the "epidemic" of shoplifting and violence against shop workers.

Ms Cooper delivered a scathing verdict on Tory counterpart Suella Braverman, saying: "Suella Braverman is literally the only person who could make you want you to bring back (her predecessor) Priti Patel." Addressing Ms Braverman's attacks on LGBT+ refugees - claiming many of them are "gaming the system" - Ms Cooper said: "Labour will never scapegoat people because of who they are or who they love."

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Dave Burke