Enfield murder: Moment angry mother confronts politician over knife crime at scene where teen was stabbed to death

Anger: Angela Bailey confronted Nick de Bois over knife crime
Barney Davis
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An angry mother confronted a campaigning politician at a peace rally to demand more police to enforce the “two strikes” knife-crime law he pushed through Parliament.

Angela Bailey, 40, led more than a hundred protesters on a silent march to the Hindu temple in Enfield where 18-year-old Joao Gomes was stabbed to death on Saturday evening.

Among the crowd was Nick de Bois, who hopes to recapture the Enfield North seat for the Tories from Labour’s Joan Ryan, who was also in attendance.

Mr de Bois was instrumental in steering legislation through Parliament in 2015 under which adults face a mandatory six-month sentence for being caught twice with a blade, with 16 and 17-year-olds facing four months behind bars

Anger: Angela Bailey confronted Nick de Bois over knife crime
Barney Davis

But Ms Bailey, who witnessed Saturday’s violence which saw dozens of youths clash after a party advertised on Snapchat spiralled out of control, said there were not enough police to enforce the so-called Enfield Law.

In a fiery exchange, she told him: “I’m not having my nine-year-old laying on the ground murdered because there’s not enough police.”

Mr de Bois looked visibly shocked after being rounded on by the crowd in the constituency that also saw Damien McLaughlin, 42, stabbed to death by youths clad in ski-masks last month.

Joao Gomes, 18, was knifed to death on the steps in Enfield

Ms Bailey, a local funeral director, said: “There are no police officers on the ground to stop and search when fireworks are being thrown in our houses and our children are being robbed or killed on the streets.

“We need the police to support us. There is no point in these jail sentences if there is no police to put them into prison in the first place.

“I saw a child the other day, 15-years-old, in Tesco who fell of his bike and a knife fell out the bottom of his trousers.”

March: A rally was held in Enfield
Barney Davis

Mr de Bois blamed judges for not imposing the mandatory sentences but ended up agreeing with Ms Bailey.

He told her: “First of all the judges are not putting them in jail at the moment. The law that I introduced was a mandatory law and they are only fulfilling them by... six out of ten.”

Speaking to the Standard afterwards, Ms Bailey said: “He didn’t like what I was saying and tried to stop me talking by saying this event was not the time and place for public discussion. I think it was and so did the crowd.

Stabbing: Police at the scene in Enfield
Angela Bailey

“The government has cut the number of local police so much.. it’s no good having tough prison sentences if there is no police to catch them in the first place.

“I have one son, Jack, who is my world and the reason for all my efforts. I really don’t want him to ever get involved in anything like Saturday night. I took him to the scene after everyone had left to show him the tragic results of knife crime.

“We need stop and search to be implemented again.”

Official figures show that 66 criminals convicted of a second knife crime have escaped a custodial sentence since the legislation for repeat offenders was introduced.

That compares with a total of 298 people who have been jailed under the law, meaning one in six serial knife criminals have managed to avoid prison despite the new law.

Mr De Bois added: “You have to repeat the message that its not okay to carry a knife. It has to come from the streets and the community.

“It’s easy for suits to preach that message but if parents, schools and the family are giving the same message it’s going to be more powerful. This isn’t the time to give up.

“I introduced the Enfield law but our judges see fit to ignore the will of Parliament and the will of campaigners and enforce that law.”

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