Eastenders star Joe Swash is supporting the Mirror's Stop Knives Save Lives campaign.
The actor, who played Mickey Miller in the BBC1 soap, has been friends with Brooke Kinsella and her family since childhood.
Devastated by her brother Ben's death, Joe yesterday threw his celebrity weight firmly behind our efforts. He said: "I've known Brooke and her family since I was around six and known Ben since he was a nipper.
"I've never met a more loving family in my life ...and the thought that someone took their little Ben from them makes me feel sick.
"Brooke is still one of my closest friends and the other day she came around to my flat, just to get out of her own house for a while because it's simply so full of grief.
"We had a cuddle and a chat. I think losing Ben has not quite sunk in for her yet because she's been so busy, using Ben's death as a catalyst to stop all the knife violence. She's so tiny and frail and I just want to look after her. And Ben was such a lovely, loving, charming young gentleman.
"He was one of those kids who just wanted to get on with his life - always playing football or acting and never just hanging round the streets. He never got into trouble. But then my Mum called me to tell me that Ben had been killed after she heard about it on the news.
"For Ben's funeral, the family want people to wear funky sunglasses, which he always loved, and bright colours to celebrate his life.
"I last saw Ben a week before he died, when Brooke and I teased him about becoming a man and being taller than us. I feel lucky to have nice memories of him laughing and smiling.
The Mirror demands...
1 Give our police tools to catch knife thugs
2 Launch amnesty to bring in theblades
3 Nurses must report treating stab victims
4 Teach all pupils that knives solve nothing
5 Texts and internet will help win battle
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