"Have we failed these teenagers?": Devastated volunteer cop 'felt helpless' as stabbed boy, 16, lay dying in street yards from home

A volunteer police officer who was first on the scene of the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Kennie Carter has described her feeling of helplessness as the youth lay dying in the street. Teacher Lauren Whitworth, 33, who is a special sergeant with GMP, saw Kennie, who had suffered a fatal stab wound to the chest, unconscious just yards from his home in Stretford.

A head of maths at a secondary school, she said more work had to be done in schools to tackle knife and crime and she asked: "Have we failed these teenagers?" As he walked home, Kennie was allegedly followed and pounced on by a group wearing hoods and Covid masks on Stretford's Lakes estate at 7pm on Saturday, January 22.

He was stabbed in the chest and died later in hospital. Police believe the fatal stabbing was the culmination of a series of tit-for-tat incidents between two rival groups. So far police have arrested 14 youths on suspicion of murder, aged between 12 and 17. Ten of the young suspects remain on police bail.

Special Sergeant Whitworth, from Urmston, the head of maths at Altrincham College, was the first police officer on the scene of the stabbing on Thirlmere Avenue in Stretford, alongside PC Charlie Crouch. She said the teenager's eyes were open but he 'wasn't there'.

Kennie is one of four youths from Greater Manchester who have died because of knife crime in 2022.

Lauren said: "There was chaos, people everywhere we turned on Thirlmere. At that point Kennie was just laying on the floor. There was somebody giving him CPR, a member of the public.

"He was laying down on his back near to the wall on the pavement. He was unconscious and not breathing. I went around the back of the car to collect the first aid bag. My colleague was there administering