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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Julie McCaffrey & Andy Rudd

Harrowing moment mum finds stabbed teen son dying in street

This is the harrowing moment a mum finds her teenage son dying in the street after he's stabbed by a group of strangers who hunted him down 'like a pack of animals'.

Roseann Taylor runs down the road towards paramedics who are desperately trying to save her 18-year-old boy Azaan Kaleem.

She screams: "Please, please, please! He’s my son.”

A police officer stops her from getting any closer so that medics can continue their work trying to save AJ and tells Roseann: "They're working on him right now."

Sobbing Roseann looks over the officer's shoulder and says "Oh my god!" before turning away in horror again repeating "Please, please!".

Rosanne is stopped by a police officer (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police C)
Paramedics work on AJ (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police C)

'I want you to watch knife gang murder my son to witness the horror of the attack' 

The police bodycam footage also captured the reaction of AJ's girlfriend, Shannon, who was with him when he was attacked. She can be seen putting her head in her hands and telling officers: "I don't want him to die."

AJ's girlfriend Shannon saw him being stabbed (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police Custody)
Distraught Roseann is comforted by police (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police C)

  'Knife killers took my son's life then stole last precious memory I had'

AJ died three days later in hospital from his injuries.

Roseann and Shannon have allowed the footage, which is difficult to watch, to be shown on Channel 4's 24 Hours in Police Custody, to stop this from happening to someone else's child.

Shannon says: “It’s me and Roseann’s grief on display and people need to see it.

Roseanne looks on as medics battle to save her son's life (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police C)
She has agreed for the footage to be shown to prevent someone else from losing a loved one (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police C)

Girlfriend saw teen stabbed to death in front of her - now his mum wants you to watch it 

"They need to imagine their mums or girlfriends in the same position, and they need to put down their knives.”

Roseann, aged 47, says: “I will fight, with every fibre of my being, to make sure my son did not die in vain.”

Speaking about losing AJ Roseann says: "I feel like I’ve failed. I understood from the moment he was born how important it was to be his mum and protect him and take care of him and at the very last moment I wasn’t able to get to him.

"I’d do anything to hear him call me ‘mum’ again and the reality is that will never happen."

Roseann says she feels as though she has 'failed' as a mum. (Channel 4 / 24 hours in Police Custody)

Two men aged 18 and 19, who can't be named, were given life sentences after being convicted of murder.

Harrison Searle, 18, of Derwent Road, Luton, who was also convicted of murder, was sentenced to 16 years in jail.

Reece Bliss-McGrath, 20, who was found guilty of manslaughter, was sentenced to 11 years.

AJ's mum has also allowed the CCTv footage of him being attacked be shown.

In the footage, AJ, wearing a grey Puffa jacket, is first knifed in the heart. He shows no resistance or aggression as he's hit up to 20 times before sinking to the floor, following the attack in Luton in April last year.

Roseann adds: "It should never happen and this is why I want to share what  I'm sharing because it should never of happened."

Police were able to track down and charge AJ's killers quickly because of the CCTV.

Recalling the attack Shannon says: “I still have images of what happened in my head, haunting me. They’re as vivid and horrible now as they where that day.

The first blow was to AJ's heart (BBC)

“I have nightmares and can’t sleep, have panic attacks, can’t walk past gangs of lads on the street or even just one lad.

“I haven’t had a day without crying since Azaan died,” she added.

She has tried to erase images of the stabbing by reminding herself of happy memories of him, such as the time he proposed as they watched a film.

She says: “Azaan turned to me with a Haribo ring and said, ‘will you marry me?’.

“I said, ‘yes I will – but you know I’m going to eat this ring now, don’t you?’”

24 Hours in Police Custody is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm. Roseann and Shannon are helping to raise money for the intensive care unit at Luton & Dunstable Hospital — visit this page .

 
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