Harry Potter Series
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18 years old is far too young of an age to pass away. You hear stories about it pretty often, though, unfortunately and it can really hit people hard. When someone is just entering the spotlight for the first time and has shown a lot of potential, it can be hard to digest that they’ve passed away, and it wasn’t even their own fault. That was the case for Rob Knox, a promising young actor that had his life taken from him, leaving his family and fans to wonder what could have been.
Knox was born in Kent, England on August 21, 1989 and moved to nearby London at a very young age. Around this time, Knox caught the acting bug and started to appear on stage while in school and was taking acting classes regularly. When he entered his teenage years, Knox was able to start landing roles for the first time. Though his first one wasn’t that big, Knox did appear as an extra in the 2004 film “King Arthur”.
Knox then appeared in an episode of the long-running series “The Bill”, a police drama that first debuted on ITV in 1984. He then followed this up with a pair of television appearances on the reality series “Trust Me, I’m a Teenager” and has a brief recurring role in 2007 on the comedy “After You’ve Gone”. Then, Knox would land the role that many thought would be the launching pad of his career.
The “Harry Potter” series had already been running both as a book franchise and a film franchise when 2007 came around. When “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was looking for new actors for the cast, Knox auditioned for the role of Marcus Belby, who actually didn’t appear in the novelized version. Knox was selected for the role of the Ravenclaw student at Hogwarts. The character was also to be used in the film’s sequel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. That was not to be, however.
Tragedy would strike for Knox on the night of May 24, 2008 when he was in the Sidcup district of London. Outside of a bar called the Metro, Knox had been with his brother. That brother was up against two men in what appeared to be a fight, but Knox didn’t want it to escalate so he stepped in between the parties. Sadly, one of those two men was brandishing a knife and stabbed Knox for trying to stop the scuffle.
One witness said that the attacker pulled out the pair of knives “at least six inches long from his waistband, and said, ‘Who’s going to make my day then?’” Adding that “Girls were screaming. Jamie, Rob’s brother, came over and said ‘a boy has pulled a knife on me.’ I held Rob back, but he pushed me out of the way and said ‘he’s threatened my little brother.’ Rob was angry, but he’s never started any trouble in his life. I think he just wanted to protect his younger brother.”
Knox was rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately the injuries suffered from the stabbing were too severe. He passed away that knight at just 18 years old, far too young for anyone, especially given the circumstances. The man that stabbed Knox (Karl Bishop) was arrested and charged with murder and was deemed guilty. He was then sentenced to life in prison with parole not being possible until at least 2029.
Brian Altman, the prosecutor in the case, said that Bishop “was the aggressor and he was acting out of revenge. He wasn’t under attack - because he had the whip hand…This man carries knives like others carry pens in their pockets, quite happily thinks little or nothing of stabbing others as if it were some occupational hazard,” and that Bishop had “absolutely no signs of remorse.”
At the sentencing for her son’s killer, Knox’s mother said that “We will work toward making sure he did not die in vain by continuing our work against knife crime.” His father noted that “We are enormously relieved that justice has been done, although there is nothing that will compensate for the shattering sense of loss.”
Daniel Radcliffe who played the title character in the “Harry Potter” movies offered his condolences to the Knox family. “We are all proud to have known you and devastated to have lost you,” he wrote. It is just terrible to write this note. Rest in peace,” adding that “To anyone else who reads this remember ‘The dead don’t die. They look on and help.’”
Shortly after his passing, Knox’s parents also chimed in. “Rob was kind and thoughtful and would always help out others,” they said. “He would always spend his last penny on other people instead of himself. The life and soul of the party, he was very outgoing, loved sports and would always strike up a conversation with people. He was respectful to others and adored by all his family and friends. He was an asset to the family.”
A decade following his tragic death, Knox’s mother had spoken out after starting a foundation in her son’s name to reduce London’s knife violence epidemic. “It’s still as difficult now as it was then,” she said of dealing with Knox’s death. “It’s about getting young people off the streets (and) give them something to do. I take the story of how Rob died and use it as an example. I have had some fantastic feedback. I have had kids come up and tell me they no longer go out with a certain friend anymore because they carry a knife.”
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