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FAMILY'S ANGER
Sadiq Khan cares more about Ulez than knife crime… his legacy is normalising stabbings, says Jodie Chesney’s step-mum
Figures show knife crime rose in London 21 per cent over the past year
THE grieving stepmum of a Girl Scout stabbed to death has accused London Mayor Sadiq Khan of caring more about hounding motorists than beating knife crime.
Innocent Jodie Chesney, 17, was murdered in a park by a gang of thugs in March 2019.
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Following the death of Harry Pitman, 16, who was killed in a knife attack as he watched New Year fireworks, Jodie’s stepmother Joanne has blasted Mr Khan for failing to act.
She said: “For some reason, he’s just not interested. He’s more interested in raising revenue through Ulez than in doing the right thing for Londoners.
“I went to City Hall twice in 2021 to try to get answers, along with other families that have lost people to knife crime, and he just doesn’t want to know.
“His legacy is normalising knife crime, as well as draining every penny from the general public.”
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The controversial London Mayor, who is seeking re-election in May, is once again facing uncomfortable questions about his tenure following Harry’s killing.
The teenager, who had ambitions to join the Army, was in a crowd of thousands gathered to see in the New Year in Primrose Hill, North London, when he was attacked.
It was a good vantage point to watch the firework display over the Thames — a spectacle also criticised as an “ego trip” for Mr Khan after it began with a 20-second message displayed by drones that said: “The Mayor of London presents.”
Joanne said: “It seems like he was celebrating himself, when he has literally nothing to celebrate given that the capital is falling apart.
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"The fireworks should represent hope for the future, when right now that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
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Jodie, a Duke of Edinburgh Award winner, was stabbed in the back in a park in Harold Hill, East London, by members of a drug gang in a case of mistaken identity.
Since then, Joanne — who raised Jodie from the age of six — has channelled her grief into campaigning on knife crime.
But all her efforts to enlist the help of the capital’s Labour mayor have come to nothing.
In April 2021, she waited for hours in pouring rain outside his Thameside office, hoping for the chance of a few words.
Instead, Mr Khan refused to see her or any of the other families, and sent security to ask them to leave.
Joanne, 41, said: “The ironic thing is he has two daughters that are the exact same age as Jodie and her older sister, so you’d think he would be taking this more personally.
“She was murdered out of the blue and not involved in any trouble.
"What happened to Jodie shows that knife crime has the potential to devastate any family, no matter who you are or where you come from.
“She could have been literally anyone’s daughter who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Joanne was just one of 20 distraught relatives snubbed by Mr Khan that day. She added: “One of us brought an amnesty bin that was full of knives that had been collected from the streets.”
Mr Khan has met with members of Jodie's family and his team have offered support to the Jodie Chesney Foundation.
A 16-year-old has been charged with Harry’s murder and another teen released on bail. Joanne has considered contacting his family.
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She added: “I was at home when I heard about Harry and I immediately thought the circumstances were similar to Jodie’s death.
“He was there to watch the fireworks, like so many teenagers, and that doesn’t mean he was out to cause trouble.
"There are so many victims that — like Jodie — are completely innocent, but people assume they must have been in a gang.
“It did make me want to reach out to his family to say, ‘We know how you feel, we’ve been through this ourselves’.”
Campaigners like Joanne fear London Mayor Mr Khan is trying to sweep the issue under the carpet so he can focus on milking motorists with his unpopular ultra low emission zone tax.
Meanwhile, more families will suffer the trauma of losing young people like Jodie, who was once invited to No10 as part of the Scouts.
Her killers — drug dealer Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and his runner Arron Isaacs, then 19 and 17 respectively — were jailed for life for what the judge described as her “callous, casual and irresponsible” murder.
Stepmum Joanne and her then husband Peter Chesney, who worked in the City, were celebrating his 39th birthday in central London when police gave them the terrible news.
They later formed the Jodie Chesney Foundation to tackle knife crime, which has risen each year since the pandemic.
There were 13,503 incidents recorded in the capital between July 2022 and June 2023, a 21 per cent increase.
Joanne said: “The hardest thing to take is we still have no idea what made those two go into the park that day and do what they did because they still won’t admit to it.
“It’s also heartbreaking to see that so little has changed in the five years since Jodie died — and that knife crime is only getting worse.”
Joanne has dyed her hair in tribute to Jodie, whose favourite colour was purple.
She said: “The first year after Jodie’s death was horrendous. Pete and I broke up in the first six months and I had to move back in with my parents.
“I’ve got a new partner now, but I’ve decided I’m not going to have kids, because I don’t want to bring a child into such a dangerous environment.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “Nothing is more important to the Mayor than keeping Londoners safe. As both an MP and Mayor, he has met regularly with many bereaved families and communities and seen first-hand the profound and long-lasting impact of violent crime.
“There have been massive government cuts to policing and youth services over the last decade, and a nationwide increase in police recorded violent crime. But thanks to record investment in the police from City Hall and in early intervention through his Violence Reduction Unit, the number of homicides in London last year fell to its lowest since 2014.
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"Homicides, gun crime and the number of young people being injured with knives have all fallen in London since 2016. But it’s clear that violent crime remains far too high and there’s much more to do.
"The Mayor is determined to continue making progress by supporting the police to bear down on crime at the same time as being tough on the complex causes of crime – poverty, inequality and a lack of opportunities for young Londoners - which have all been made much worse by years of government cuts.”
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