Yvette Cooper vows to bring in Ronan's law after mum's ninja sword plea

Pooja Kanda, whose son Ronan was murdered with a ninja sword in Wolverhampton in 2022 has welcomed Yvette Cooper's pledge to finally ban the deadly weapons

The mum of a teenager stabbed to death with a ninja sword as he walked home as welcomed Labour's vow to finally ban the deadly weapons.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed to bring in Ronan's Law in memory of Ronan. She told his mum Pooja, in a speech to the Labour Party Conference: "We will back you in your fight to save lives."

Emotional Pooja Kanda told delegates at the Labour Party Conference: "Ronan was a kind humble loving happy child. He was every mother's dream son. I will always be so proud of the man he was becoming." She said "too many" mothers are getting the devastating message that their child has been killed.

She paid tribute to Pooja, who has campaigned for ninja swords like the one used to murder her son to be outlawed. The aspiring lawyer, who was 16, was stabbed from behind with a 20inch long sword as he walked home from a friend's house in June 2022. He was attacked in a tragic case of mistaken identity.

Pooja previously pleaded with Rishi Sunak to finally ban the weapons alongside machetes and zombie-style knives. She told The Mirror last year: "My Ronan should have been able to come home that day, and everyone should be able to walk freely in their neighbourhoods without the threat of bumping into someone with a deadly weapon.

"How many more innocent people must tragically lose their lives before the Government listens to the cries of grieving parents such as myself, which have thus far only been heard by the Labour Party?"

Ronan's killer was able to buy a knife online using his mum's name and collect it from the Post Office with no ID checks being carried out. Ms Cooper said it was "inexplicable" that the Tories failed to outlaw the ninja knives. Last year 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin was killed with a similar weapon in a sickening attack in Hainault.

Ms Cooper said that knife crime, which has risen by 80% since 2015, is "devastating families and communities in every part of the country".