The Knife Angel statue has officially been unveiled at the foot of Leith Walk ahead of its month-long stay in the city.
The statue, which is formed of 100,000 knives either seized by the police or donated via knife banks, was created by artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironworks Centre in 2018 in order to highlight knife crime in the UK.
It depicts an angel made entirely of blades, with its hands raised in a questioning pose and a look of despair on its face.
Edinburgh is the latest stop in the 27ft statue’s nationwide knife crime awareness tour, where it will be situated at the Kirkgate from 1 to 27 September.
The Knife Angel’s arrival comes almost exactly a year on from the death of Edinburgh man John McNab, 22, who was stabbed to death on the adjacent Great Junction Street in Leith on 2 September.
Since his tragic death, John’s mother Lisa Petrie has been campaigning passionately for stricter control on knife sales in the UK – such as having knives removed from shelves and placed in locked cabinets behind shop counters to reduce thefts.
She has established the “Not In Vain” campaign, working to get bleed-control kits – emergency medical packs which can be used to treat severe bleeding – into public spaces. So far, she has distributed 37 of these kits in the capital.
Lisa was present at the unveiling today, alongside other members of John’s family. She called the statue “powerful” before speaking one year on from John’s death.
She said: “A year ago today, I [still] had John. He was 22 years old, he was happy, he was loving life, travelling and making plans to enjoy life with [his girlfriend] Amy.
“I thought I’d be worrying about him going off to Ibiza and Thailand. I thought I would be worrying about the normal things that a mum should be worried about when it comes to her son.
“I never thought I would be standing here because my son had been murdered.
“Within 24 hours, my whole life changed forever. John was taken from us because someone used a knife – and when that knife took John’s life, it didn’t just take John, it changed all of our lives.”
The City of Edinburgh Council leader Jane Meagher was also present.
Addressing the gathered crowd at the feet of the statue, she said: “[This statue] is about drawing attention to the scourge of knife crime. It’s about drawing attention to the pain that’s caused to families by knife crime.
“I want to wholeheartedly put the council behind this messaging and I’m really pleased that over the next four or five weeks there are going to be lots of activities in schools around the whole issue of knife crime.
“But most significantly, young people are going to be brought down here to see for themselves not only what this sculpture symbolises, but also what each individual knife symbolises.
“I don’t want to say much more. If this set of activities saves one life, then it’s so worth doing.”
Speaking directly to Deadline News today, Ms Meagher added: “Leith was chosen as a location for the Knife Angel not least because it’s so visible from lots of different perspectives.
“It’s an important and very public-facing part of Leith, which has got a reputation for this kind of crime, so it’s important that we do two things.
“One is to education people about the dangers of knife crime and carrying knives, but also to set out that this isn’t just an issue that affects Leith, but that it’s a citywide – in fact, a countrywide – issue that we need to face together.”
When questioned about how the preventive work against knife crime will continue once the Angel leaves Leith, Ms Meagher said: “I think one of the very important things about this is legacy.
“This won’t stop. This won’t just be a one-month wonder and then disappear. This has to continue because of course, the crimes and the knife carrying continues.
“But it’s not just about schools, it’s also about communities. It’s about the faith community and it’s about the police continuing their engagement with young people, which they do really well, so it’s a massive collective effort, which will continue.”
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