Sarah Lloyd lost her 17-year-old son to a knife crime incident in 2013.
Kieran Butterworth was murdered near his home in Harehills.
Following the tragic event, Sarah established the charity Heartspoken that helps educate individuals on the brutal reality of knife crime.
In the aftermath of Kieran’s trial, Sarah began speaking to young offenders alongside the Young Offending team in East Leeds. She now visits schools, community groups and colleges to provide workshops and focus groups.
Sarah has dedicated her education and life to researching knife crime in order to deter young people from carrying knives.
Sarah said, “It’s a fight that I don’t think I’m ever going to win, I don’t think it will ever go away but to make these kids aware and to give them that choice.”
As part of her work for the charity, she has created a teaching package to provide to schools, including her new documentary with Tell Studio.
The film “Cut Short – Fighting against Knives in the North’ will be used as a resource for sessions in schools and groups as it documents the consequences of this crime culture through tragic imagery and conversations.
Sarah states that it is not just those in a state of social deprivation that are at risk. This is the narrative that she believes in pushed by government officials.
She said, “People still think it’s just something that happens to kids in poverty and it’s everywhere”.
“It’s there, it’s on your door stop, it’s in your face. The possibility of it happening to someone walking down the street, it’s real.”
The consequence of these crimes on the lives of those involved is devastating.
Sarah continues to fight to get information into the education system by contacting government officials and creating emotive content.
