Reality star’s son murdered someone over an e-bike. She wants young people to drop knives and avoid gangs.
Sherrell Dillion, who was on the Channel 4 show “Benefits Street” focused on poverty, had her son, Terrell Boyce, also featured in the show.
In 2023, Terrell, just 17 years old, stabbed Ronique Thomas during a fight in Birmingham that involved an e-bike.
He received a life sentence with a minimum of 25 years to be served. His mother, in an interview with “Mums of Murderers,” revealed that Terrell carried a knife from a young age, after a family member was shot. She believes carrying knives is wrong and can rob families due to small arguments.
Dillion, now 37 and working as a model with an appearance in a Tom Cruise film, said her nephew was shot at age 12 and became paralyzed. After that, Terrell’s family wore bulletproof vests because she thought the streets were unsafe.
Dillion wants more youth support and stated that families care, but the streets do not. She suggests more groups to talk and organizations to work together more, while also emphasizing that police should take the knives.
Concerned about the accessibility of machetes, even to 12-year-olds, she asks where the knives come from. She wants younger people to listen, stating, “The system doesn’t love you. Your parents do.” She wants youth to listen to parents and good role models.
She believes gangs change your life, impacting your family, and suggests non-gang cousins as good examples. Dillion wants to apologize to the victim’s family and urges police to crack down on knives, steer kids away from gangs, and for the system to support families and police to remove knives from streets.
“Benefits Street,” which aired in 2014, showed life on benefits in Birmingham. Ofcom received many complaints, with people feeling the show was misleading and unfairly portrayed their lives.