Life-saving knife crime legacy of man stabbed to death in case of mistaken identity

The sister of a man stabbed to death in a case of mistaken identity has spoken out over his life-saving knife crime legacy.

Colin McGinty, a joiner by trade, was just 21 years old when he was murdered - chased down and attacked as he desperately tried to flee over a wall near a school.

A pathologist found 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. Now - 23 years on - his sister has told how she works to educate the young on the danger of knife crime in his name.

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Laura Hughes, 41, 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. Laura and supporters set up the kNOwKnifeCrime campaign and fundraised to provide bleed control kits.

Speaking to the Liverpool ECHO, Laura, from Formby, 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.

Colin had been on a night out in Sullivan's Bar, on Stanley Road in Bootle, on March 23, 2001, and was walking along Marsh Lane with friends intending to flag a taxi home. As they walked down the road, a Volkswagen Golf pulled up next to the group with doormen Michael Brown and Gary Hampton inside, along with three others.

They fled in different directions as Brown, Hampton and their unknown associates gave chase. Colin was caught as he desperately tried to climb a wall separating a street with the grounds of a school.

His friends returned to the scene, where they found Colin slumped by the wall and bleeding to death. Brown and Hampton were both sentenced to life imprisonment with the trial judge recommending they serve a minimum of 18 years each.

Laura said his death continues to have a profound impact on those who knew him, and told how she works tirelessly to raise awareness around knife crime in his name.

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 anti-social knife crime prevention work throughout the north west.

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 in Blundellsands.

"Fast forward 20 years and knife crime is such a big thing now. When I went to Monksdown 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."