Colin McGinty tried to flee from a gang of men but was chased down and stabbed multiple times. His sister has now won a Pride of Britain Award for raising awareness of knife crime
A man who was ambushed and stabbed to death while walking home with friends was the victim of a tragic case of mistaken identity. Colin McGinty was just 21 years old when he was brutally murdered.
His death had such a devastating effect on his family that his sister has since worked tirelessly to raise awareness around knife crime in his name. Laura Hughes has won the ‘Fundraiser of the Year’ award for the north west at the Pride of Britain Awards, with the televised ceremony taking place later this month.
Colin had been on a night out in Sullivan’s Bar in Bootle, Merseyside, on March 23, 2001, and was walking with two friends intending to flag a taxi home. As they made their way down the road, a Volkswagen Golf pulled up next to the group with doormen Michael Brown and Gary Hampton inside, along with three others.
Colin and his friends all fled in different directions as Brown, Hampton and others unknown gave chase. The men directed their aggression on Colin, who was caught as he desperately tried to climb a wall near a school.
When his friends returned to the scene, they found Colin slumped by that wall and bleeding to death. He had suffered 15 stab wounds, including 11 to his back and two to the front of his chest, which were believed to have been inflicted by two different knives. His parents raced to the hospital after the attack where they witnessed the young joiner’s final hours.
Despite having emergency surgery, doctors could not save him and Colin died in hospital. His death continues to have a profound impact on those who knew him.
Speaking to the ECHO, Laura said: “It was a huge shock and sometimes when I think about it to this day it still shocks me that it happened. As a campaign, we look forward and not backwards to what we’re doing because we’re trying to make a positive impact, but when this happened to Colin it was like ‘What and how?’
“Everyone was shocked to the core because he was a normal and nice person in Crosby. People at that time thought ‘What did he do to deserve that?’ because that’s how it was back then but he hadn’t done anything wrong.
Laura and supporters set up the kNOwKnifeCrime campaign and fundraised to provide bleed control kits. The campaign looks to make the public aware of the long-term traumatic effects of knife crime as well as raising money to fund youth-related knife crime prevention work throughout the north west.
Laura gives talks in schools about knife crime. During one visit she was shocked to find every child she spoke to was aware of knife crime. She said: “Fast forward 20 years and knife crime is such a big thing now. I asked the children I was speaking to put their hands up if they knew about knife crime and they all put their hands up. I was shocked.
“It’s changed and what I want to do is to try and educate young people around the dangers of carrying a knife and what to do if they’re ever in a situation if they need to use life-saving first aid. I’m not saying they will be in that situation but you can never say never.”
Speaking about winning the award, the mum-of-two said: “I still can’t believe it, I’m in utter shock. I’m delighted, it’s incredible.
“I think Colin, well I hope, he’d be happy. I shouldn’t even be doing this and there shouldn’t be a need to do this. When Colin died there wasn’t the knife crime that exists today. It was such a hit for the community. We were just a normal family.”
