Mother's plea after teenage son is stabbed in street

Lynsey Mawer said she had just fallen down the stairs herself and had to speak to the caller on speaker.

"My other children were at home and they started screaming and crying and I was trying to make out what had happened," she recalled.

"My son, Liam, had just gone out to the shop and I was being told he had been stabbed.

"It was the worse moment of my life. I didn't know whether he was alive or dead."

Lynsey was speaking after the youth who stabbed her son now aged 17, pleaded guilty at Lincoln Magistrates ' Court on Thursday to maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on March 1 last year.

The youth, now 16, was referred to the Lincolnshire Youth Offender Panel for 12 months, and ordered to pay £300 compensation, a £22 surcharge to fund victim services and £200 costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

"I just want to raise awareness that knife crime is happening on our streets," said Lynsey, who lives in Alford and has three other children.

"My son was left fighting for his life. I've been told the only reason he has survived is he was wearing two coats, a t-shirt and a hoody - they were his Christmas clothes and they were taken for evidence, including his new £150 trainers.

"He was airlifted to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham and because I couldn't travel in the helicopter with him the police blue lighted me to the hospital - they have been brilliant all along and have kept me informed."

On arrival at the hospital, Liam was given emergency surgery and was in theatre for six hours.

"His scar is 30cm long but the surgeons saved his life - he is so lucky," said Lynsey

"During his recovery Liam has had to have physiotherapy because he was bent over and could hardly walk.

"He tries to put a brave face on it now but every day when he undresses he sees that scar."

Lynsey fears more incidents like this will happen unless more is done to raise awareness of knife crime and the impact on families.

Her story comes as the latest data from the Office for National Statistics reveals that there were 345 serious crimes reported to Lincolnshire Police in 2019/20 where the offender had a knife or sharp object.

That was up by 30 per cent in a single year, compared to 266 similar crimes in 2018/19. It was also by far the highest number recorded since comparable figures began in 2010/11.

Statistics also showed there has been a 28 per cent increase in violence against a person. These figures cover the period between April 2019 and March 2020

"Kids have no idea about the impact crimes like this have on the family," said Lynsey, who works at Linkage alongside her husband. . "Myself and Liam's dad have continued to work throughout the pandemic to ensure our clients at Linkage are safe but who are protecting kids from knife crime?

"Too many lives have been have lost."

Lincolnshire Police maintain Lincolnshire is still one of the safest places to live in the country.

Insp Colin Haigh said: "The Lincolnshire Coast area is one of the safest places in the country in relation to knife crime, but we can’t afford to be complacent.

"The policing team use an array of tactics to bring people who carry and use knives to justice, including stop and search, police dogs, undercover officers and house searches.

"We need the public to report all incidents where they think someone is carrying a bladed weapon."