A charity founder who survived being stabbed on two separate occasions joined actor Idris Elba at Downing Street as part of a new anti-knife crime coalition launched by the Government.
Faron Paul, who operates Faz Amnesty in London, was stabbed nine times while trying to protect a female friend in Oxford Circus in 2006.
He says he has suffered a total of 18 knife wounds in two separate attacks.
Paul said: “When I looked down, I saw my top transitioning from cream to red and it was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
“Everything changed in a split second.
“I went from being someone who was representing the country for athletics to waking up and understanding that I had been in an induced coma.”
After the attack, the charity founder endured years of physical and mental rehabilitation on the road to recovery.
Since then, he has dedicated his life to creating and running an amnesty programme that prioritises building strong community relationships to encourage young and vulnerable people to hand over dangerous blades.
Surrendered items are then given to the police to be destroyed and since 2018, the charity has taken nearly 5,000 weapons off UK streets.
Now, Paul has joined the government’s round table which has implemented a range of anti-knife crime measures including a ban on ninja swords and a review of the illegal online sale of knives.
The new partnership also includes Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, police, and senior leaders from several groups such as victims’ charities.
The measures followed a complete ban on zombie-style knives and machetes as part of the government’s ambition to halve knife crime over the next ten years.
Possession of one of these blades could now see an offender spend up to four years behind bars.
Featured image: Gerber Legendary Blades machete/saw combo. Copyright Dana60Cummins via Wikimedia Commons per this licence.
