Warning about gang culture from Stephen Lawrences brother
ITV News Report 4th October 2019
School children warned about gang culture by Brother of Stephen Lawrence.
The brother of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager murdered in a racist attack 26 years ago, has been warning a group of school children in Northampton about the dangers of gang violence.
Stuart Lawrence warned the children that tomorrow is " promised to no-one" and hoped that some home truths about life and death would resonate with those that might be drawn into violence.
Stuart Lawrence is the younger brother of Stephen, who was killed by a racist gang in London in 1993.
Not every young person who was invited to the event is involved with gangs but there were some in the audience who are already on that path.
The event was all about trying to persuade them to change that path and the speakers did not pull punches.
Roseann Taylor, a mother from Luton, showed the young people CCTV of the knife attack that killed her son AJ.
It was an attack that took just 22 seconds and she told them she has had to watch that over and over again during the trial.
There were graphic photographs shown by an A&E consultant, testimony from a man who had been to prison for killing a fellow gang member as well as the talk from Stuart Lawrence.
The event was attended by 30 Northamptonshire school children and concerned members of the community who will all be encouraged to engage positively the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence ( CIRV).
CIRV is a pioneering scheme which has been operating in the county since February 2019. Since then, the team has had more than 500 referrals from agencies across the county relating to people who are either on the periphery of gang involvement or already immersed in gang-related activity.
Such has been the success of the programme, Northamptonshire has been highlighted as delivering national best practice in violence prevention.
