The heartbroken mum of knife crime victim Archie Beston says her “life stopped too” when he died.
Speaking out a year after his death, Becky Beston, 39, said blades take more than the lives of their victims.
She told the Mirror: “You don’t just take the person that you use it on – you take their mothers, their families... You take everybody’s life with that knife.
“My life stopped too that day. I’m just existing now.”
Archie, 19, was stabbed in the heart by Tyrone Bryan, 20, who had two previous knife convictions and a caution for carrying an offensive weapon.
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Bryan was cleared of Archie’s murder but got 19 years for manslaughter.
Becky said each day has been “absolute torture” since she lost Archie, a Marks & Spencer sales assistant and talented footballer.
She added: “He was such a perfect boy.”
Becky of Barnes, South West London, is calling for all those caught with a blade to get an automatic five-year term.
She said of Bryan: “If he’d been in prison, Archie would be with me now.”
She also wants a life term for anyone using a knife.
She added: “If you leave the house with a knife you have the full intention of using it.
"You’re taking that knife to harm somebody.”
Over 300 people joined the Arch March this month – a socially distanced walk and balloon release in tribute to Archie, knifed outside a club in Kingston, South West London, in February last year.
Bryan’s accomplice Finlay Ahwan, 21, had driven a van down the pavement, prompting door staff to think it was a terror attack.
Bryan put his knife out of the window, stabbing Archie, who died in hospital six days later.
Ahwan got seven years for attempted GBH and dangerous driving.
