Sadam Essakhil: The message a murderer has for schoolchildren

A man who is serving a life sentence for a murder he committed as a schoolboy is fronting a new anti-knife crime campaign being shown in schools in the West Midlands.

Sadam Essakhil was 15 when he murdered Lukasz Furmanek in Handsworth on 31 May 2015.

Like many teenagers in Britain's big cities, he believed he needed to carry a knife for his own protection. He and an older friend, Abdullah Atiqzoy, who was 18, were walking towards an all-night supermarket at 03:00 BST when they encountered two Polish men coming the other way.

It is not clear how the fight started but Essakhil and Atiqzoy were armed. In less than 60 seconds, Mr Furmanek lay dying and his friend Joseph Dudek was critically injured having suffered multiple stab wounds.

During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court the incident was described as "sudden, shocking and brutal".

Essakhil fled the country but handed himself in to the authorities in Belgium. Atiqzoy was arrested trying to escape to France in the back of a lorry.

Mr Dudek had recovered sufficiently to be able to give evidence at their trial. They denied murder and claimed they were acting in self-defence but were convicted and sentenced to life.

Atiqzoy has to serve 26 years before he will be eligible for parole, while Essakhil has to serve 19. Judge Patrick Thomas QC said what they had done was "savage and inexcusable", and the effects were "horrific and far-reaching".

It is now four years later and Sadam Essakhil has just turned 20. Despite not admitting his guilt and showing no remorse at the time, he now accepts he was responsible for taking a man's life and wants to warn other teenagers not to carry knives.

In 2018 nearly 700 children in the West Midlands police area were victims of knife crime. Earlier this year, three teenagers were fatally stabbed in the space of 12 days. The force hopes that his message will hit home where others have not.

During the eight minute-long film West Midlands Police has produced, Essakhil gives more detail than he ever did during his trial.

He tells children he is sorry he took another man's life and for the distress he has caused to both Lukasz Furmanek's family and his own. His message to other teenagers who think they need to carry weapons for protection is stark.

"I went out with a knife but not trying to attack people," he says.

"I just went out there feeling that I need to protect myself, and obviously one thing leads to another, and you never ever think you're gonna kill someone. But obviously you could end up killing someone.

"When you think about it you don't need that knife. A lot of the times I used to think I was protecting myself but what am I protecting myself from?

"That night, if I never took a life it would have been a fist fight at most."

Life in Britain's cities can be tough, even for 12 and 13-year-olds. At the Bluecoat Academy in Walsall, a group of Year 8 students tell me they get scared if they have to go out on their own, and know there are gangs who could threaten them.

After watching the film, Oscar, 12, explained how it made him feel.

"It's quite hard to think that it (can) happen somewhere close to where we all live. It's literally just on our doorsteps."

Ismail, also 12, added: "Around my area a lot of bad things happen, like a few weeks ago there was a gunshot fired.

"People carry it [a knife] for self-defence. What they don't realise is if they get caught carrying that knife around some bad things could happen to them."

The man introducing the film to the students is Det Ch Insp Jim Munro, the officer called to the scene on the night of the murder, and who led the investigation.

He hopes the film will be hard-hitting and make teenagers think twice about arming themselves but admits asking a murderer to front the force's latest anti-knife crime campaign from prison was a controversial choice.

He says: "We know he's in prison. It's not a decision that's been taken lightly, but ultimately this is about getting to the children in the school and talking to them in a language they understand, and [having] somebody who can come across and give that message is really important."

West Midlands Police has kept Lukasz Furmanek's mother Iwona informed about the campaign, and she has given her approval.

The effects of her son's murder have had a long-term impact on her. She has had mental health problems, finds it difficult to sleep and has had to take anti-depressants.

"I live in a 'vegetative state' now," she said.

"I don't care about anything. If I live, I live, if I don't, I don't. I feel indifferent about everything.

"I would give anything to see him, to hear his voice, to undo that day of 31 May.

"If I was to influence someone with my words, I would like them to think 10 times before they cause hurt to themselves and to other people."

The murder has also deeply affected the Essakhil family. Sadam's mother has returned to Afghanistan and his brother Ismail said he hopes he can achieve something through the film.

"He realised now whatever he has done is wrong. The only thing he's thinking now is getting his message to youngsters and not to make the same mistake that he made."