Murder of Ben Kinsella

Ben Michael Kinsella (27 October 1991 – 29 June 2008) was a 16-year-old student at Holloway School. Kinsella was murdered by a gang of three black teenage males in Islington, London after an argument over which he was blameless. The significant media attention around his murder (the 17th stabbing death of a teenager in London during 2008) led to a series of anti-knife crime demonstrations, a raised profile for the government's anti-knife crime maxim "Operation Blunt 2" and a review and change of UK knife crime sentencing laws.

The victim

Kinsella was born the son of cab driver George Kinsella and his wife Deborah, a school secretary. He has a half-brother, three half-sisters and a younger full sister. Like his older half-sister Brooke Kinsella, who played Kelly Taylor in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 2001 to 2004, Kinsella had been involved in acting and he had a bit part as Tyrone Dooley in a 2004 episode of The Bill. He was a popular and academically gifted student. Friends spoke of his caring and comical nature, adding he was "full of energy" and that he was "the life and soul of his class".