The sister of murdered 12 year-old Ava White said her grief fuels her determination to stop children carrying knives.
Ava was killed by a 14-year-old known as ‘Boy A’ using a flick-knife last year at a Christmas lights switch-on event in Liverpool.
On the day Ava’s killer was sentenced to life - with a minimum of 13 years - at Liverpool Crown Court, her family unveiled their Ava White Foundation, with an aim to prevent knife crime.
Sister Mia, 19, has told how they have put resources such as bleed packs around the city, and she is keen to speak in schools and to pupils, to help them understand the horrific consequences of carrying blades.
She told BBC ’s Newsbeat: “Every single day, I always go to ring Ava and text her just to see what she’s doing. I don’t think it’s ever going to sink in.
“It needs to start at a really young age, wanting to engage. Because why would you ever want to ruin someone else’s life and your own?
“No-one should be going through what we’re going through. But if I can stop one child from putting a knife in the pocket...”
Mia says for Ava’s friends and family, what happened will “stick with them for the rest of their lives”.
She added: “The danger you put yourself in when you put a knife in your pocket. I want to get the message out to stop doing it.”
A trial in May heard Ava and her friends became involved in an argument with the defendant and three of his friends after the boys recorded Snapchat videos of the group larking about after a Christmas tree lights switch-on event.
The killer later said he thought Ava was a boy, who might be armed, and feared she would “batter” him.
The boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attended a special school, had previously been subject to a community resolution notice after hitting a PCSO.
Nick Johnson QC, defending, claimed his client was carrying the knife because he had previously been a victim of crime.
But friends of Ava said the boy “grinned” after stabbing her just after 8.30pm. He carefully discarded his 3in knife and took off his coat, which was later found in a wheelie bin.
When detectives later quizzed him about the murder he said: “I’m not bothered” and told one officer: “Shut up you nonce.”
Last July vile Boy A, now aged 15, was jailed for life with mum Leanne White’s victim impact statement read to the court explaining: “My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up.
“The moment Ava died is now yesterday, tomorrow and forever. It is the past, the present and the future. It is not just one horrific moment in time that happened last whenever.”
Mia told the BBC that her family still see Ava everywhere - especially when they are around her peers.
She added: “It’s so hard for me and my mum to be around the nieces and nephews because they’re all Ava’s age and all hung out together. She would always make them laugh.”
“It’s so different now, you can tell something is missing in the family.”
