Lyndsey makes heartfelt plea to he husband's teenage killer who additted stabbing Ian Kirwan outside Asda in Redditch in March 22 aged 14.
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00:00 I'm Lindsay Kirwan-Blythe and I'm Ian Kirwan's wife.
00:20 Tell me about Ian. What was he like?
00:25 Very sweet, very funny, very daft, incredibly intelligent, absolute genius. He would remember
00:32 facts about things that you didn't even know existed. Absolute massive animal lover, he's
00:38 a big kid, sweetest, kindest, really loving, supportive, wonderful human being. He could
00:47 go out of the house and come back and would have an animal with him that he'd rescued
00:52 or he'd have gone, "I've got an idea, we're going to go and do this." And he's disappeared
00:56 for like two hours and he's come back with a car. Everything would involve an answer
01:00 of "of course he did."
01:02 Can you tell me in your words what happened that day?
01:09 Our bathroom light switch broke and he went to B&Q and he was going to pick up a bottle
01:17 of wine, some junk food for us to eat later that night. He was confronted with a group
01:24 of lads who were messing about and from what I can gather, they approached him and a fight
01:33 ensued and he was stabbed in the chest and died on the floor of Asda.
01:42 What were you doing when you found out?
01:44 I was here, I was literally here and I knew something, he wasn't even due home and I knew
01:51 something wasn't right. Just had this feeling and I kept phoning him and I phoned the police
01:59 and I checked the band balance and nothing had changed, just he didn't come home.
02:07 During the trial, how did you feel?
02:14 Anxious, struggled, in denial. I'm hearing these facts about my husband and things that
02:26 have happened to him and it just didn't seem real. It wasn't reality, it shouldn't be my
02:32 reality. I'm sat there with these people that I shouldn't be sat in a room with. I shouldn't
02:39 know information that I did about how you try and resuscitate a stab wound to the chest.
02:47 I shouldn't know information about the legal system the way that I do. Nobody should have
02:52 to know this, nobody should have to be sat in a room and hear those things about your
02:58 husband, your loved one, ever.
03:01 What do you want to say to those people who tried to save Ian at Asda?
03:07 I've already met with all of them and they are unbelievably amazing, wonderful, fantastic
03:15 people. What the medical team, the police team did was unbelievable, was just above
03:22 and beyond and I don't think I could ever be able to thank them. And I'm grateful that
03:28 he had people around him who took the time to care for him when I couldn't be with him.
03:37 What do you want to say to anyone who is thinking about carrying a knife?
03:41 Why would you? Why would you want to carry a knife? I know you feel like you are safer
03:49 and it gives you more confidence, makes you feel more comfortable, but statistically speaking
03:53 it makes you more inclined to use it. It actually puts you in a worse position, gives you a
04:00 false sense of security. If nobody's carrying a knife then everybody is safe.
04:06 Do you know what kind of knife?
04:08 I do. It was a large kitchen carving knife.
04:13 What do you want to say to parents of the kids that carry knives?
04:24 There is a lot of training within the childcare and education sector about looking for signs
04:29 and symptoms of how your child is behaving, things that they might say and the way that
04:32 they act that we as individuals might not necessarily be aware of. I feel you owe it
04:38 to yourselves and your children to look for this information and look what to look out
04:43 for. We can be secretive as people and unaware or lives are busy that we don't notice. Look
04:50 for changes in your children, look for things that might be happening, talk to your children,
04:56 talk to them about the repercussions of carrying a weapon, ask them what they think about it,
05:03 why they would want to do it. Try and get them to look at the bigger picture that if
05:08 you take somebody's life how will that affect that person's world.
05:12 How has this changed your life?
05:17 Absolutely completely changed my life. The person that I was on the 7th of March 2022
05:22 doesn't exist anymore. Half of me died on that day. I struggle on a daily basis with
05:30 anxiety. I miss him every day. I question everything around me. I worry unbelievably
05:41 about the future. I feel incredibly vulnerable, very empty.
05:49 The future that I had in place is gone. The person that I trusted the most in the world
05:56 is gone. My best friend, my other half, my favourite person in the whole world is gone.
06:05 Why were the defendants in Redditch?
06:09 Through the trial we found out it was they were meeting a rival gang and the idea was
06:16 to steal from them.
06:17 Why did you want to do this video?
06:19 The reason I wanted to do it is because obviously knife awareness, knife crime awareness, the
06:25 public have become more aware of it and the knowledge is greater but things aren't changing.
06:29 We need to be kinder to each other. Nobody should have to go through how the last two
06:36 years of my life has been. I wouldn't wish that on anybody, even the defendants themselves.
06:42 Tell me if you're not ready for this question, but it's the last question. Is there anything
06:49 you want to say to those people who were involved in your husband's murder?
06:53 Do better. Ian would want them to rebuild hope. He would want them to be better people.
07:07 Take a positive out of this situation. Learn from it. Finish your education. Be kind to
07:13 people. Be kind to yourselves.
07:16 Have a future. Travel. Meet people. Live a nice and decent life and live it to the full.
07:25 Learn from this experience.
07:26 Learn more at www.cdc.gov/knife-awareness
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