DadTalk

This anger must stop

The parents of murdered Jimmy Mizen warn that a culture of anger and violence is destroying the British way of life

The grieving parents of murdered Jimmy Mizen warned last night that a culture of anger and violence is destroying the British way of life. Devastated Barry and Margaret Mizen pleaded for an end to mindless thuggery of the sort that killed their son.

They spoke after yob Jake Fahri, 19, was jailed for life for 16-year-old Jimmy’s horrific murder during a fight in a bakery shop.

Margaret, 56, said: “There is too much anger in this world and it has to stop.”

Barry, 57, said: “Anger flares up when someone looks at someone else in the wrong way, argues over a parking space or disagrees with a referee’s decision at a kids’ football match.

“There’s this ridiculous situation in a baker’s on a Saturday morning. Someone makes a comment and the next thing someone else is dead. It’s crazy.” He added:

“This country stands apart from others. This is a country of civility, fair play, fairness and safety. We are rapidly losing that. We are in danger of letting it go completely. We have become a country of anger, of selfishness and of fear. It doesn’t have to be like this. Let’s try and stop it. There needs to be a change in culture, so it becomes uncool to pick up a weapon. If kids could take one thing from Jimmy’s death, I hope they learn that if you pick up a weapon in anger, there are going to be consequences. “

The couple insisted that the shift in attitude needed must come from EVERYONE across the country. Margaret said: “Government, police, parents, teachers and the community need to come together to change attitudes. We often say, ‘They should be doing something’. But who is this ‘They’? It’s up to us.”

Speaking at their home in Lee, South East London, softly-spoken Margaret went on: “I don’t feel anger because it was anger that killed my Jimmy. Anger breeds anger. I won’t let bitterness ruin my family.”

Read the full story in the Sun