Becky Beston, the mother of Archie Beston, who was tragically killed in Kingston last year, has organised a march to commemorate her son one year after his death.

Family, friends and other members of the community met at Castelnau Recreation Ground, a place where Archie used to play football with his friends, on Sunday for the "Arch March" and went on to release pink balloons on Richmond hill in celebration of his life.

On February 29th 2020, Archie was fatally stabbed during a night out in Kingston. His mother tells the press that Archie had been walking back to his car, sober before the stabbing took place. He reportedly saw a van deliberately driving towards 19-year-old Fabian Davis and became caught up in the incident.

As a result, the two men in the van (Tyrone Bryan and Finley Ahwan) attacked the teenagers, both of whom were stabbed by Bryan. Fabian survived the stabbing, but Archie succumbed to his injuries in hospital just days later.

As Archie had opted to donate his organs after death, his liver ended up saving the life of another patient, who was on a 24 hour critical list.

On 2nd October last year, Bryan, 20, was found guilty of manslaughter by Kingston Crown Court and was convicted of grievous bodily harm and possessing an offensive weapon. He received a 19 year prison sentence.

Ahwan, also 20, was found guilty of attempted GBH against Fabian Davis and dangerous driving. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

While 19 years is a significant amount of time, Becky feels that the manslaughter sentence was too lenient. On her Twitter page @justice4archie she wrote:

"I will be campaigning for changes to the law, specifically #useaknifegetlife and for a revision of the current law which should see offenders sent to prison for five years when caught three times with a knife.

"This law has a loophole which needs to be closed in order to get these offenders off the streets and keep our children SAFE."

Since the trial outcome was revealed last October, Archie's friends and relatives have been sharing a petition for harsher sentences for those who commit knife crimes.

The petition argues: "The sentence for stabbing needs to be a life sentence. Why should they get the luxury of a life on the outside, when their victims often don't?

With more people signing after the march that was organised yesterday, the petition is now within reaching-distance of its 35,000 signature target, with just under 1,500 left to go.

There is also outrage over the fact that Tyrone Bryan was known to have committed a number of knife-related offenses in the past. According to the Mirror, Byran was so renowned on his estate for stabbing people that his nickname was 'Red Alert' and had a series of previous convictions for knife and offensive weapon possession.

In the bio for her @justice4archie Twitter account, Becky writes: "Archie's murderer was a prolific knife carrier and user, it's time the laws regarding knife crime changed, join us!"

As more and more bereaved parents ask for action to be taken against knife crime in London, there is no telling what changes to the law might happen in the years to come.