“Make it happen.”
Dwayne Simpson
Introduction
Losing a child to knife crime is unimaginable and unbearable—a needless loss of life which is extinguished by a mindless act that has devastating consequences. Sadly, knife crime is on the rise in this country. It brings fear to communities, and governments have failed to come up with practical solutions how to tackle this heinous crime. However, after watching the emotional and compelling media interviews with Lorraine Jones, I felt compelled to write this piece. A mother who has been directly affected by this brutal act, tragically losing his 20-year-old son, Dwayne, when he was fatally stabbed in Brixton in 2014.
True Tragedy
Dwayne was a loving and caring person with a good heart. Someone who loved drama, dancing, comedy and sport. He was a popular individual whose heart was broken when his mother, Lorraine, went through two divorces. He subsequently went into a period of depression, becoming truant from school. At the age of 15, he was arrested after being a lookout boy for a robbery in Lambeth and was given a two-year prison sentence.
In prison, Dwayne experienced the harsh treatment and the effect that incarceration has on mental health. Yet Simpson drew the positives from the negatives, enrolled in several educational courses, and became a mentor for other prisoners. A mindset that he carried on when he was released, trying to steer other people away from a life of crime and the “horrifying place” where he spent two years. As a result of his criminal record, Dwayne became a target of the police, subject to stop and search, and the police often raided his family home. They would come in force, often with dogs, looking for stolen phones and drugs in the early hours of the morning and the dead of night.
Hope
Despite this turmoil and trauma, Dwayne remained positive and used his love of boxing to set up a boxing club to train young people. The club started in local parks and moved to an indoor space on the Angell Delight estate. An empty retail unit run by a volunteer, Mary Chinyerek. It was warm and dry with no equipment, but thirty people were using it, helping them stay away from the draw of gang life. Sadly, this is the last act of kindness that Dwayne has been able to give back to his community. A year later, he had been fatally stabbed after coming to the aid of a teenage boy who an attacker was chasing. As a result of the boy getting away, the attacker took out his frustration on Dwayne weeks before his 21st birthday. An unrecognisable young man, swollen and bloated, died two days later after being on a life support machine at King’s College Hospital. This was despite a vigil involving 500 people in the community visiting him in hospital. The attacker was sentenced to manslaughter and given a maximum sentence. A trial that occurred at the Old Bailey.
Dwayne’s Legacy
After her son’s death, Lorraine, a pastor and community leader, set up Dwaynamics in 2014. A community company with an impressive record includes eradicating drug dealing and anti-social behaviour from Belinda Road, reducing reoffending numbers with youth in Lambeth and including youth from different ethnicities to work together through sport. There have also been multiple activities for children with disabilities and special needs through sports camps. With support from the Evening Standard and the Prime Minister, the Queen and Sadiq Khan, the boxing club has also grown with sessions for youth and amateur boxers. A second building was acquired in 2022. The company has an impressive list of sponsors, including MOPAC, England Boxing, Lambeth Council, Galloway Glass Security, Nike, Daily Mail and London Sport. However, they still desperately need funding to cover their overheads and continued projects—a fantastic foundation to keep the memory of Dwayne alive and support others.
