Mandy Jamieson says people need to learn lessons after her son, Daniel Gee-Jamieson, was killed in 2018
Anne Gee-Jamieson and Mandy Jamieson, twin sister and mum of Daniel-Gee Jamieson, who was killed in 2018(Image: Mandy Jamieson)
A grieving mum says many don’t realise the pain she is still going through after her son’s death seven years ago. Mandy Jamieson, 55, from Woolton, is the mum of Daniel Gee-Jamieson, who died after he was stabbed at a park just off Belle Vale Road in Gateacre in July 2018.
Daniel was just 16 when he bled to death following a pre-arranged “straightener”. The teenager was unarmed but was stabbed in the leg in front of dozens of onlookers. Owen Cousins was later found guilty of manslaughter.
Cousins claimed he was forced to fight Danny and stabbed him in self-defence when he attacked him with a knife. None of the five teenage witnesses to the fight on The Nook said they saw Daniel with a weapon.
Mandy spoke to the ECHO ahead of a yearly event at St George’s Hall on Friday to remember victims of serious violence. The heartbroken mum, who later set up the charity Danny’s Place, said the aftermath of what happened to Daniel never goes away.
Mandy said: “Daniel was funny. He has a really good sense of humour. Don’t get me wrong, Daniel wasn’t an angel.
“But he wasn’t a bad kid. He had ADHD, Asperger’s and he was profoundly deaf in his left ear. He still didn’t deserve to die and I just don’t want another mother to have to go through what we go through on a daily basis.
“Because of that, I have set up Danny’s Place, which is an organisation which delivers talks on how the ripple effect of knife crime affects families.
“People don’t realise that, they just see what happened in the paper. They don’t see the aftermath of everything.
“My son dies every morning. And so before I can do anything, I have to deal with Daniel first. It’s not easy doing what we do, but I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through it.”
During the trial, the court heard that friends of both parties had told police they thought Daniel wanted to fight Cousins because he had been bullied by him and a friend, referred to in court as Boy B.
Mandy says that, from the age of 12, Daniel was bullied by a gang of youths on the local estate which had a massive impact on him.
Mandy said: “They sold drugs on their bikes and because Daniel wouldn’t sell for them – he had his own set of friends at that stage – they made his life hell.
“They set fire to his hair, he couldn’t even get off the bus. It had a really bad effect on his mental health.
This led to a chain of events culminating in the fight between Daniel and Cousins. There was no truce after Daniel’s death either.
Daniel Gee-Jamieson died in hospital after he was stabbed during a fight on July 3 2018(Image: Liverpool Echo)
As the ECHO reported previously, tributes to the amateur boxer were set on fire, scrambler bikes disrupted his funeral procession and threats made by a hammer-wielding gang led to four children being prosecuted.
Mandy said: “At that time, I’d had four years of them persecuting my child. They were just vile – no conscience, nothing. On the day of my child’s funeral, they were at the top of my road waving.”
Mandy says parents and the wider community need to take responsibility in tackling this behaviour, which includes reporting incidents to Merseyside Police or anonymously via Crimestoppers. She said: “Communities need to stand up to them. It takes a village to raise a child.
“We need to take our communities back from these kids because if we don’t, this is going to get worse. They’re going to then have their own children and install the same mindset to their children.
“They haven’t been through what I’ve been through. They don’t understand why I feel this way about it because they’ve never lived it.
Tributes for Daniel after his death in 2018(Image: LIVERPOOL ECHO)
“If they don’t deal with this now, they’ll be in the same position as what myself and the other families of victims from Liverpool are in.”
The event on Friday was supported by Liverpool City Council’s Culture Liverpool and Safer Stronger Communities teams, and St George’s Hall will be bathed in purple light to mark the event.
Last year, the Liverpool Community Safety Partnership – known locally as Citysafe – launched a ‘Serious Violence Reduction Plan’ to tackle the issue.
A number of projects set up to disrupt organised crime and encourage young people to make the right choices.
Examples include the EVOLVE partnership in Dovecot, Yew Tree and parts of Knowsley, and Everton, funded by the Home Office, which has led to thousands of arrests, millions of pounds worth of cash, assets and drugs being seized, many weapons and firearms being taken off the streets, and falls in crime.
Speaking ahead of Friday’s event, Mandy insisted it would be a “celebration of life” rather than a memorial, with contemporary dance performances and people affected by serious violence coming from as far as Newcastle to help out.
Mandy said: “It’s just a lovely night and I’m so proud of it. Doing Danny’s place is a form of counselling for me.
“I am proud to speak about my child. I believe he deserves to be spoken about and it gives me strength.
“That’s what Friday night is about. It’s to show our city, this is what we’ve produced, this is what we are capable of.”