North East knife crime: £8,000 to tackle violence after Tomasz Oleszak, Gordon Gault and Holly Newton deaths

Almost £8,000 has been awarded in funding to projects aiming to tackle knife crime after stabbing tragedies take teen lives in the North East.

Tomasz Oleszak, Gordon Gault and Holly Newton - ages 14, 14 and 15 - have all lost their lives in knife crime in the region over the past four months with children around their age arrested on suspicion of murder.

Now, the Northumbria Violence Reduction Unit has confirmed that almost £8,000 will go towards fighting knife crime as part of the Local Youth Fund.

The scheme sees young people across the Northumbria Police area bid for a range of activities that they felt would make a difference to their local areas and improve their feelings of safety.

A youth panel was responsible for reviewing the applications and providing recommendations for funding. This has resulted in nearly 600 young people now set to get their projects underway.

Focused on increasing awareness of the dangers and consequences of knife crime, the successful applicants came up with projects including wearing white at community sessions to spark conversation amongst young people, hearing from specialists in information sessions, and sports activities such as a ‘knives down’ football league, with important messages around staying safe.

Read more: Newcastle United fans to mark Wembley visit with sombre minute in bid to bring teenager killer to justice

The organisations supporting the successful applicants include:

• Sporting Chance North East 
• Hat-Trick 
• Northbourne Youth Initiative 
• Neetzotz Ltd 
• Trinity Academy Newcastle 
• Curious Arts 
• Forget Me Not Residents Association 
• Auxillia Youth Services CIC 
• Mary Ashley and YMCA Newcastle 
• Durham Army Cadets – Northfield Gardens TA Centre 

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said: “Knife crime is a national problem, but we are not immune to it here in the North East. In the last few months, our region has experienced total devastation at the loss of several young lives, and I don’t want to see another family go through this.

“That’s why we must continue to do all we can to tackle violence, which has no place in our communities. The youth fund is one of many initiatives from the Violence Reduction Unit, that puts our young people at the heart of its decision-making and gives them the chance to tell us how they think knife crime can be prevented – and they have done just that.

“In previous rounds, we have seen young people gaining new skills and growing in confidence, which is why I can’t stress enough how important it is that we continue to give them access to opportunities. With the right support, we can help our young people make positive choices for the future and reduce their chance of becoming involved in crime.”