A new documentary on C5 – The Real Adolescence – looks at the rise in murder convictions for 12-17 year olds in the UK. We spoke to the mother of one young knife victim wanting to save lives

Nearly two years on from losing her son Mikey Roynon, mum Hayley Ryall is still in shock. Her beloved boy was just 16 when he went to a birthday party at a house in Bath, Somerset and didn’t come home.

For on June 10, 2023, the much-loved teenager was stabbed with a zombie-style knife and died from a single wound to his neck. Upwards of 70 kids had travelled to the party and Shane Cunningham, 16, was later detained for life for Mikey’s murder with his two friends, Leo Knight and Cartel Bushnell, also 16, jailed for manslaughter.

Mikey didn’t know the trio, who were pictured in court travelling from Wiltshire to Bath with what appeared to be sharp objects visible underneath their clothing. “I miss everything about him,” said Hayley. “I miss doing his washing, I even miss telling him off for being late.

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“I miss the mess, I miss cooking for him, I miss that terribly. I miss the noise in the house. I miss Christmas because we don’t have that anymore, I miss birthdays, I miss everything.”

Hayley was working in Birmingham at the time of her son’s death and remembers looking at her phone to see 37 missed calls before one of Mikey’s friends got through to her – and her world changed forever. “Every day I wake up in the morning and I still feel in shock,” she said.

“People say time heals but it doesn’t get easier. I have a big wall up where I feel like if I talk about Mikey and go into his bedroom, I can feel him around me and he’s still here.”

Hayley described her son as “completely fearless” and “a lot of fun”. “He liked playing lots of jokes on me,” she smiled. “He was always excited, he was happy. He told me he loved me about 30 times a day. That was the last thing he said to me: ‘Love you Mum’.”

A district manager for Slimming World, the bereaved mother is appearing in tonight’s C5 documentary The Real Adolescence: Our Killer Kids, which explores the rise in murder convictions for 12-17 year olds in the UK, focusing on the experiences of families affected by these crimes. The hit Netflix four-part series that inspired the show’s name, Adolescence, recently attracted more than 24 million viewers.

“I thought it was very very good, i just felt like there could have been more towards the victim’s family,” said Hayley of the drama, which stars Stephen Graham as the father of a teenager accused of murder. “It was all about the boy that did it and his family but it didn’t show the devastation that causes to the community around that.”

The real life statistics are harrowing, with the number of children convicted of murder between 2016 and 2024 rising by more than 300 per cent. Information published by the Office for National Statistics earlier this year found teenage homicide victims in England and Wales were far more likely to have been stabbed to death than any other group – 83 per cent were killed with a sharp instrument.

Zombie-style knives and machetes, including the one that was used to kill Mikey, are defined as weapons with blades over eight inches in length, normally with a serrated cutting edge. Last year, they were banned in England and Wales.

Mum Hayley had thought knife crime was “something that happened in London, in big major cities, not where we live” before it affected her own family in devastating fashion. “I didn’t think you could go to a 16th birthday and have this happen,” she said. “The reason I’m speaking in the documentary is because I wish I’d known more two years ago – if speaking out saves one person’s life it’s worth it.

“If it gets the message out to stop one young person carrying a knife, it’s worth it. We need to stop the epidemic of knife crime.”

“We have to change how the next generation – it can’t keep getting worse,” Hayley added. “It is important because kids are killing kids.”

The TV show Adolescence explores how technology, particularly social media, influences the lives of young people. It explores toxic masculinity and online abuse and takes a wider look at the intense pressures faced by boys in Britain today.

“These kids have to deal with at such a young age with technology – it’s not the real world,” said Hayley. “We need to be checking in and asking ‘are you ok?’.”

In May last year, Mikey’s murderer Cunningham was ordered to serve a life sentence, with a minimum of 16 years behind bars, at Bristol Crown Court. His friend Bushnell was detained for nine years and Knight for nine years and six months.

“The court case was horrific to go through, to have to sit with those boys in a room,” said Hayley. “We were not even allowed to look at them. Getting justice for Mikey, it made a tiny difference but it won’t change the fact that it ruined our lives.”

Hayley and her partner Scott, a 48-year-old insurance manager, now run the charity Mikey’s World, which has teamed up with their local police force and ambulance service to install specialist ‘bleed’ kits around Mikey’s hometown. The charity is also partnering with a technology company to offer virtual reality headsets which allow people to step into the shoes of young victims of gang-related crime.

Produced by ITN Productions, The Real Adolescence: Our Killer Kids is available to view or stream tonight on 5, from 10pm