A picture of Ben Kinsella, who was fatally stabbed at 16, in a senseless London attack, was sewn into Brooke's bridal bouquet
BROOKE KINSELLA made sure her little brother Ben was a part of her wedding – despite him being the victim of a senseless knife murder ten years ago.
Carefully sewn into her bouquet was a locket containing a precious picture of Ben, who died aged 16. She clung to it all day.
In an exclusive interview to mark the ten-year anniversary of his death, Brooke, 34, tells how the pain of losing her brother never leaves her.
She said: “My wedding day was the happiest I have had in ten years. But my husband Simon never met Ben, the boy I loved more than anything else in the world.
“It was in December. We’d had dreadful weather but that morning the sun came up. I knew my little angel would make it shine. He was there in his own way.
“Mum made my flowers and put a locket with Ben’s picture in. I held it all day. My dad did a beautiful speech saying Ben sprinkled a little bit of magic over us on the day I met Simon.
“We raised a glass and cheered but I couldn’t help crying.”
To celebrate finishing their GCSEs, Ben and his friends were out in June 2008 near his family home in Islington, North London, when he was attacked by Juress Kika, Jade Braithwaite and Michael Alleyne, then aged 19, 18 and 20.
It was over an argument he had not been involved in. The trio spotted Ben and his mates walking to get a taxi and cornered him.
They stabbed him 11 times in just five seconds. In 2009 all three got life after being convicted of murder.
Brooke, in her capacity as consultant to scriptwriters on EastEnders — the soap in which she played Kelly Taylor for three years, has been going over Ben’s death for a forthcoming storyline.
As the plot, involving Shakil, played by Shaheen Jafargholi, and Keegan, played by Zack Morris, unfolds tomorrow night on BBC1, viewers will see how knife crime shatters the community.
Brooke said: “It’s a huge responsibility to get the truth out there about the devastation it causes. It was terrible reliving it but I don’t mind if it helps other families.”
The murder rate in London is now higher than New York. Of the more than 60 murders in the capital this year, more than half were knife victims.
Brooke, who helped set up the Ben Kinsella Trust to campaign and educate young people about the dangers of carrying knives, said: “We’ve worked so hard to make a difference. Ten years on I’d like to say we are in a better place. But I can’t.
“Every time I hear of another death I’m distraught knowing what the family are going through.”
With her dad George, 59, a London taxi driver and mum Deborah, 56, an office manager, the family also set up the Ben Kinsella Exhibition at Finsbury Library, North London.
It features a life-size prison cell and actors who show some of the consequences of knife crime.
There have been nearly 12,000 visitors to the workshops since 2012.
Brooke said: “We mainly work with kids around ten, when they’re susceptible to peer pressure and bullies who tell them to do things.
“Education on knife crime at this age should be on the curriculum. They give feedback afterwards and one ten-year-old boy wrote, ‘One stab physically does a million mentally’. It shows the maturity they have at that age.
“They know people who head out the door with phones, keys and a knife.
“We explain they’re more likely to be harmed if they carry one but some think there are safe places to stab someone.
“I hate knives. I know all the injuries that Ben had, how long and deep they were. When I see a knife of the same size I freeze.”
Ben and Brooke were very close, living at home with their two sisters. Brooke said: “He was one of my best friends. He’d creep into my bed and watch Friends. We would read the Harry Potter books together. He never got to read the last one.
“He was a wonderful young man and an annoying little brother who played pranks.
“I hate that his killers will be out when they’re 40, have another life with family and kids. Life should mean life.”
Next month the family will be asking people to do “Ten for Ben”.
Brooke said: “We’re holding a memorial and a 10k walk.
“We are asking kids all around the country to do ten acts of kindness for his charity, like making a cup of tea or doing some shopping for an elderly person.
“We want to counterbalance the cruelty out there with kindness.”
October is always tough, because that is when Ben would celebrate his birthday. Last year, Brooke did not get out of bed. But smiling now, she says: “On his 25th we did the things he’d never done — drank pink champagne, went to the casino, played ping pong. He’d have loved it.”
I hate that killers will be out at 40
Brooke Kinsella
She is convinced he would also have loved her husband, lawyer Simon Boardley.
Brooke, a talent manager, met him through TV’s Judge Rinder — or “Judge Tinder” as she calls her husband’s Sun columnist pal.
In December last year, 18 months after meeting, Brooke and Simon married.
Brooke said: “It hurts so much that he never met Ben. I’ve shared Ben’s memory box with him, with his toothbrush in case we can clone him one day, a theatre ticket from our visit to see Wicked, and Ben’s Oyster card and art work.
“Simon has brought happiness back into my life.
“When you get married you think about having children but I worry about the world.
“The thought of bringing a child into it truly petrifies me.
“I know just how dangerous it can be.”
