School children are to be warned about the dangers of carrying a knife by a jailed killer. 

Teenagers from a school in Birmingham will hear from Sadam Essakhil, who was 15-years-old when he and a friend murdered a man and seriously injured another.

Essakhil, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 19 years in prison, took a knife from his kitchen drawer in his home in Handsworth, Birmingham.

Now 20, the prisoner says he carried the knife only with the intention of using it to protect himself but he ended up taking the life of a man – something he says haunts him.

Speaking in a video project organised by West Midlands Police, Essakhil says: “It’s not nice, having to live with the feeling that I’ve taken a life.

“Especially when you’re in your cell, thinking about things, they come to haunt you.”

Essakhil did not know the man he killed and says he often thinks about the victim and his family.

In the clip, he says: “When I actually 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 knife it would have been a fist fight at most and I would have got a bruised eye and he would have a bruised eye or bruised face.

“It’s not nice having a fight but it’s better than ending up in jail with a life sentence or killing somebody.”

He adds: “It’s not even just about me. It’s about the person who lost his life as well. What about his family? The person that died, that was his mum’s only child and that child is not there anymore.”

He talks about his experience in prison, how rarely he sees his family – including his young sister, niece and nephew, all who were born while Essakhil has been in jail. None of his friends have visited him.

The video states that Essakhil’s involvement in the film will not impact the length of his sentence.

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Munro said: “We see the tragic effects of knife crime far too often, the devastation that it causes so many people is truly heartbreaking.

“While officers work hard with young people, we understand some do not want to listen to what we have to say.

“Sadam’s message is powerful and I hope will provide some emotive thoughts and conversations amongst young people.”

He added he was grateful to Prison Service for granting the interview.

The film is part of Operation Sceptre, a week of action by police forces across the country aimed at tackling knife crime, including organising knife amnesty bins across England and Wales to encourage people to surrender their weapons.

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