Cousin of stabbing victim Luke Gray taking part in Ultra White Collar Boxing match at Bournemouth International Centre to raise funds for Lives Not Knives

THE cousin of stabbing victim Luke Gray is to step into the boxing ring for the first time to raise money for a charity which campaigns against knife crime.

Luke was fit and healthy before he was attacked while trying to defend his best friend Max Maguire (23) after he was stabbed in an alleyway near the Royal British Legion club in Lymington in October 2021.

Sadly father-of-one Max died at the scene and Luke, then 24, was left seriously injured after being stabbed twice in the back. He too nearly died from his wounds – his heart stopping three times the night of the attack – and he was left with life-changing injuries.

Tragically Luke died in July this year. A coroner ruled his death was a result of “ischemic heart disease”, and his mother Sarah Roberts says she believed “Luke is dead as a direct result of the attack”.

It was Sarah and Luke’s aunt who found him dead in bed at his home in Pennington. He had undergone multiple operations including the removal of a kidney during his long fight to recovery.

Sarah said: “Although the coroner has confirmed Luke’s cause of death was ischemic heart disease, he would have lived into his 60s, or longer. This underlying condition ended his life at just 26 years, due in part to the chronic psychological and physical stress of the attack with a knife in 2021.

“This cannot be proven in law so Luke will never get the justice he deserved.”

Now her nephew Harry Edwards (23), from Ringwood, is going head-to-head in an Ultra White Collar boxing match to raise awareness and funds for Lives Not Knives – a London-based charity dedicated to preventing youth violence which offers mentoring to youngsters aged 9-21. The match is on Saturday 16th November at Bournemouth International Centre.

Harry, a pallbearer at Luke’s funeral, said: “He was a complete fighter, he fought for two-and-a-half years to get over this hideous, unprovoked attack. I have seen the hideous impact on his mum and her twin sister, my mum – it has affected us all terribly.

“I am fighting to raise awareness of Lives Not Knives in the hope that we can do one small thing to help stop the national epidemic of knife crime.”

Sarah paid tribute to Harry: “I am tremendously proud of what Harry is doing not only for his cousin, my son, but for all the sons and daughters out there who will be lost due to people carrying knives. It must stop.

“Harry has been in training every day. I wish everyone who thinks about carrying a knife would think twice, be like Harry and save a life. Leave a knife at home or, better still, hand it in.”

As reported in the A&T, Draven Jewell (22) was cleared of murdering Max but convicted by a jury of manslaughter and of causing grievous bodily harm to Luke. He was jailed in April 2023 for 16 years.

To donate to Harry’s boxing challenge visit bit.ly/40wt2gI

To donate to the charity visit livesnotknives.org