'I just held him in my arms and cried - until his heart stopped beating'

Emma Gormley was getting ready to celebrate her eldest son's 18th birthday. She'd booked a table at a restaurant, bought his presents, and planned to surprise him with some balloons to mark his big day.

But Kyle Hackland would never tuck into that birthday meal. He was never able to do the things every 18-year-old looks forward to, when they reach that huge milestone.

Because 12 days before his landmark birthday, he was murdered in broad daylight. In the words of one of his killers, Kyle was murdered 'for no reason'.

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His is yet another case highlighting now knife crime has permeated our culture. Kyle was stabbed by Tafari Smith, then just 16-years-old, who admitted that he routinely carried knives in an apparent bid to protect himself.

The decision of young men to carry knives has real world consequences. None are more harrowing than the testimony of Emma Gormley, who held her son in hospital as he took his last breath, after being stabbed on the streets of Manchester.

Kyle was murdered by young men he considered to be his friends, over a petty feud in which he had no involvement. Any young person considering carrying a knife should read Emma's words before they make that potentially fatal decision. "On the 22nd November 2022, I received a phone call that changed my life forever," she said in court.

"My son had been stabbed. I relive that day over and over again in my head. The panic, fear and dread I felt as I drove from work to where it happened.

"I sat in a room for hours as doctors and surgeons worked on him, giving us little updates when they could but not giving much away at all.