Knife crime in the North East

it's just like got to remember sometimes speak of speak to each other about things especially when you come here like you just remember all the good times I'm with them like all the times playing football isn't that music a lot it is absolutely vital that we redouble our efforts to prevent crime like this from happening after three young people lost their lives to knife crime in the space of four months we are taking a closer look at knife crime across the Northeast we first take a look at Thomas olejak who sadly lost his life back in October 2022 tomash was just 14 years old and from gated police received an alert from the ambulance service to a report of a teenager in the Springwell area who had suffered from an injury consistent with a bladed article Thomas was taken to the hospital but sadly despite the efforts of medical staff he passed away at the time a 14 year old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder and he was later charged with one count of Murder One of attempted wounding with intent and one with having a bladed article in a public place a 13 year old girl was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender after the boy was charged northumbria police as Chief superintendent Helena Baron so that the tragic incident left the family oddly devastated and said that they were supporting the family Thomas olejax family paid tribute to him the same day his mom Camilla said Thomas was an amazing son a kind and caring role model for his brother and a great friend to so many he was a talented smart young man and a brilliant footballer we will never stop loving him the whole left in our hearts can never be filled our world has changed forever the death of tomash rocked the community within the Springwell estate Council and northumbria police worked alongside each other to offer bereavement and safeguarding support across the community at his funeral people lined the streets as Thomas was brought to the church and he was welcomed with a huge round of applause his family and friends were there paying tribute by wearing something purple which was Thomas's favorite color and people put purple balloons around the Springwell estate with Thomas's love for football his team hosted a memorial football match in his honor where his family were given a shirt they can now keep forever the police and crime Commissioner of northumbria police Kim McGinnis attended the football match and spoke to us about knife crime it is absolutely vital that we redouble our efforts to prevent crime like this from happening and so that's everything from you know going into schools making sure we're doing the education huge events like this which are about raising awareness of the dangers of serious violence and knife crime but then of course the police need to be proactive and be out there on patrol reassuring communities and working with them to to gain that intelligence and also to to to to hammer that message home how dangerous it is to carry a knife as the investigation went on the young person accused of stabbing tomash appeared in court the now 15 was found guilty of murder and attempted assault on a second victim and he was previously admitted to one count of possession of a bladed article the anonymity was lifted and we can now name the convicted late and Amy's Amy's is said to be sentenced in June 2023 but tomash olajac was just one of the few young people who have lost their lives to knife crime in the Northeast another young boy who sadly lost his life due to knife crime was Gordon Galt Gordon was just 14 years old when he died in November 2022. northumbria police received a report of an assault and it was reported that there had been an altercation involving a number of people Emergency Services found Gordon near elsick Road and he was found to have suffered from injuries consistent with having been caused by a belated article he was taken to hospital but he unfortunately died six days after the incident at Gordon's Funeral his loved ones turned out in huge numbers to pay their respects with flowers banners and golden ties [Applause] foreign landmarks across the region were also lit up in green to short a mark of respect for Gordon's death much like the tributes for tomash there is a lot of art popping up around the area to pay tribute to Golden as well police originally made 14 arrests at the very start of the investigation and in total they have made around 20 arrests but nobody has yet been charged with Gordon's murder Gordon's family and friends are campaigning to try and find the person who killed Gordon unfortunately just a few months after another young person lost their life due to life crime fifteen-year-old Holly Newton from hexham died in January 2023 police received a report that a boy and a girl had been injured after an alleged assault in the priest Popple area the boy and girl were treated by Emergency Services after having suffered serious injuries consistent with having been caused by a bladed article but sadly the Girl Holly died as a result of her injuries Holly's family paid tribute to her the week after she sadly lost her life they said Holly was such a bright and bubbly girl who was so passionate about her family and many friends rest in peace to our baby girl we love you so much and our lives will never be the same without you here flowers were laid while the altercation took place with kind messages from young people across the area and people lined the streets at Holly's funeral a 16 year old boy was arrested not long after Holly's death and he was later charged with murder attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon these two cases and Thomas's case took place within four months of each other all involving young people in knives northumbria police and crime commissioner Kim McGuinness set out plans a month after Holly's death to tackle serious crime in the Northeast with knife crime being her top priority knife crime amongst young people has become an issue across the Northeast according to the office of national statistics there were a total of 1009 serious offenses involving a knife in the northumbria area in 2022 609 of those were assault with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm offenses involving a knife and compared to Durham and Cleveland Police northumbria has the highest total number of selected serious offenses involving a knife so what are the police doing to try and reduce knife crime well at the memorial match for Thomas olijacques we spoke to the northumbria police and crime commissioner about knife crime look one incident is too many any incident like this is too many any young person losing their life in this way is too many and so it is absolutely vital that we redouble our efforts to prevent crime like this from happening as as I said as much as this is you know a real coming together of a community and never want us to have to do this again I never want to have to do another Memorial event of course after Thomas oljacques death we sadly lost two more young people to knife crime in February Kim McGinnis set out her priority is to fight a knife crime across the Northeast thousands of pounds were given to projects aiming to tackle knife crime from the northumbria of violence reduction unit she also set out three additional areas including student support Champions who work with schools so young people feel they have a person to confide in we asked the PCC to give us a comment on knife crime across the Northeast she said I know knife crime is something that our communities are concerned about after recent losses so I hope activity like operation septic brings reassurance that there is a lot happening in the fight against violence in the region she added everyone parents teachers friends we all need to be having conversations raising awareness and creating positive opportunities the key thing is reaching kids before a knife reaches their hands the police and crime commissioner also said that her fight to get more funding to tackle violence will not stop during the national week of action to tackle knife crime northumbria police got involved with operation SEPTA the week's also render bins placed in stations across the area which encourage people with unwanted knives to hand them over Chief superintendent helner Baron northumbria releases serious young violence and crime leads said sadly we have seen the devastation which can come from carrying a knife with life's lost Futures destroyed and families left heartbroken officers across our Falls are carrying outwork every single day to reduce the impact this type of offending has on our communities she went on to say that if you have any concerns about someone carrying a knife please pass the information to an officer a trusted adult or anonymously to Crime Stoppers the cases of Thomas olajac Gordon gold and Holly Newton shocked the Northeast and Beyond and it has had a huge impact on the young people across the region as well with many of them joining the campaigns for safer streets just rememberable really like it's just like good to remember sometimes speak of speak to each other about things especially when you come here like you just remember all the good times and with them like all the times playing football isn't that music a lot sadly lost his life after he was stabbed in October last year it happened along the area that residents called the lines in the Springwell estate where there is now a memorial and a bench dedicated to tomash a lot of young people hang around the lines during their free time but when we spoke to the boys as we walked through the estate they said that they just want to make the area as safe as possible for young people but also for others within the community so we're working with our young people in the Springwell State and we've been working with them since um October November time and when we came out to do detached work after Tom's death and we came in and we clearly saw that there was a need for youth provision in the area and the young people clearly didn't have that and it was something that was obviously really needed or you can clearly see how it's like emotionally like impacted on them um I think I think it's the almost scared as well um just because obviously like it was a scary thing that happened in their community and I think they just need as much support as possible so we came in to do a social action with them and based on how they could reduce knife crime within the area um where so it was all it was completely your flared and we sat with them decided what they thought would be a good idea to holiday Vision lifetime could be reduced and and they decided they wanted to make a petition and to get their counsel to a career to get street lights put on the lines of the area which is where Tom's death happened and so that's what we're doing at the moment where I'm working on that petition trying to get as many signatures as possible and we need 2 000 signatures forget our Council to look at it and on top of that we're also doing the community garden in honor of Tom and they've just purchased a bench and they've been painting it purple because purple was Tom's favorite color the street lights that the young people want will brighten up the lines which currently have no lights around the paved area throughout the spring while the state there is Memorials and purple ribbons to pay tribute to Tom Ash and you really feel a sense of a community coming together as we spoke more to the young people they said the people don't expect things like trying to make big changes from kids but they just want to feel safe and reduce crime in the area that they call home where everything's happened really it's just we're just trying to reduce crime rate really because you could by saying that you could just be saving someone's life right there just just making their life just for everyone's safety really just please just help us really because it just needs done it's just better for everyone so it just needs done really yeah like just help her because you might be saving someone's life at the end of the day a lot of people have been walking through them lines pitch black door don't know what might be in front of the most behind them