The family of a teenager who was fatally stabbed in Bristol a year ago has been thanked by the Prime Minister for their work installing bleed kits in the city. On February 14, 2024, 16-year-old Darrian Williams was fatally stabbed in Rawnsley Park by two teenagers.
In the aftermath of Darrian’s death, where two 16-year-olds were convicted of his murder in December, Darrian’s family launched a campaign to install more ‘bleed kits’ across the city. On Friday, to mark the one-year anniversary of Darrian’s death, his family unveiled a new bleed kit on Beaumont Street, outside the park where he was stabbed,
On a visit to the North Bristol Community Diagnostics Centre, on the outskirts of Bristol, Sir Keir Starmer has invited the family to work with the government in order to help prevent knife crime. The Prime Minister said: “To the family, I remember profoundly a year ago, being shocked by what had happened and my thoughts were with the family and remain with the family.
“I want to thank them for what they’re doing with these bleed kits, which are hugely important. We are working on this as part of our prevention strategy and we would like to, respectfully, invite them to work with us. We do need to bear down on knife crime.
“The bleed kits are a really important part of that [preventing knife crime so I just say thank you to the family, our thoughts are with them. As a father, it must be absolutely unbearable [to lose a child] and we will happily work with them.”
In September, the government launched a coalition to tackle knife crime across the UK. One of Labour’s election pledges was that if voted into power, the party would work to halve knife crime within the next decade.
One of the people involved in the coalition is 21-year-old Serena Wiebe, who previously spoke to Bristol Live and described how young people were going to school “afraid and wary” of each other. The boxing coach knew Darrian as a kid and was friends with Eddie Kinuthia, who lost his life to knife crime on July 21, 2023.
The Prime Minister said that he hopes that more young people can get involved in the coalition, which also includes Idris Elba. The coalition aims to build on the Young Futures programme to offer young people a pathway out of crime.
Keir Starmer said: “The more people involved [in the coalition] the better and particularly young people. It’s really important that we all recognise that young people bring a huge amount to this, they help us with some of the ways which we can get to those that we need to work with. I encourage them and many young people to come forward and work with us.
“It is a concern for all young people because it’s about their security and safety, they want to feel safe and secure walking their streets in their community. They have to be a central focus to this.“
Together For Change Aims
Set up a task force – We will develop a community-driven task force to meet and discuss the issue, how best to tackle it and how we can make a real difference with those in power.
Getting knives off the street – We will work with the campaigners to raise awareness of initiatives designed to get knives off the streets.
Social media – We will look at the Online Safety Bill and see if it goes far enough where it comes to harmful knife-related content on social media and how easy it is for children to see.
Raise awareness – We will work together to raise the awareness of how knife crime is linked to poverty, education, employment, social exclusion and the collapse in youth services
Lobby the government -We will cover the issue in the context of the General Election, using our findings from the taskforce and our reporting to lobby for change
Hold power to account – We will scrutinise and hold Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council to account on their plans and models to make Bristol safer
In March 2024, Bristol Live and other media across the city established the Together for Change campaign, aimed at saying enough is enough and preventing knife crime. Young people have spoken to Bristol Live saying that they do not know where to turn to for help and Claire Hazelgrove, the MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, says that the government is working on bringing safe spaces for young people to get support and to find a sense of community.
Claire Hazelgrove said: “We’re bringing in Young Futures hubs to make sure that we have great places for young people to go and find community and to get support when they need it, including around careers advice which is really important, as well as mental health.
“We work with brilliant youth charities who do a great job making sure young people have got a safe and secure space to spend time outside of school and the home environment. It’s a credit to everyone in the community doing that work.”