EXCLUSIVE: Family of murdered Bristol teenager calls for more bleed control kits
It comes as the locations are confirmed for 10 such kits funded by our charity Cash for Kids
Last updated 17th Feb 2025
The family of teenager Darrian Williams who was murdered in Bristol one year ago is calling for more bleed control cabinets to be installed on the streets.
Darrian's relatives gathered on Valentines Day (Friday 14th February) to mark exactly one year since his passing and also unveil one such cabinet, on Beaumont Street right outside Easton's Rawnsley Park.
It was inside the park on Valentines Day 2024 when Darrian, aged 16, was fatally stabbed by two other teenagers, who thought he was part of a gang they were in dispute with.
The pair responsible, who we cannot name for legal reasons, are now serving life sentences behind bars.
What happened on Friday night?
Perhaps as many as 100 of Darrian's friends and family first gathered in Rosemary Lane Park in Easton from 4:30pm, where they released dozens of blue balloons into the sky in his memory.
From there much of the group then travelled to Rawnsley Park where Darrien was stabbed, to formally unveil a bleed control cabinet on Beaumont Street, mere metres from where Darrian was attacked. The group then retraced Darrian's final steps by walking from Rawnsley Park to Old Market, where Darrian collapsed one year ago.
Several of Darrien's closest family members spoke exclusively to Greatest Hits Radio after the bleed control cabinet was unveiled.
"To have a bleed kit in every area would help for everybody," his older brother Racaine said.
"It's not (just) for emergencies, it's not for image, it's the fact it is there, people know it's there, they can feel safer. Regardless of what can happen it would be nice to know that there is a bleed kit everywhere, for everyone."
Darrian's older sister Shanine said: "We have to put these kits out to try and save the kids lives.
"It shouldn't be like that, but I'm grateful to the community and grateful that so many people care to donate to these kits. I mean they have saved lives and they will continue to save lives."
Cousin Javeon called for more of them.
He said: "Having something like this here is invaluable.
"It will probably take a little while for it to become normal for people, to be like, ok we can rely on something like this to help save a life.
"(But) knowing that this is here now, it's going to be a massive, massive help."
Cash for Kids and the fight against knife crime
Last year, around the time Darrian lost his life, our charity Cash for Kids was working with anti knife-crime campaigners to fund the installation of 10 such bleed control cabinets around Bristol.
In May we unveiled the first of them on The Horsefair in Bristol City Centre and today (17th February) we can confirm all 10 have now been installed in public and are available to use, should an emergency occur nearby.
Cash for Kids worked with local campaigner and Daniel Baird Foundation representative Leanne Reynolds to get the cabinets installed, who said: "My support has grown and the collaboration work that I've done in the last year across the city is growing and it's all for the same purpose.
"This is what we need to stress and get across to communities, is we need to work together.
"If you don't work together you're just working separately and it's harder to tackle (the problem).
"The more people that work together in collaboration, in partnership, you'll see a difference."
The location of all of the Cash for Kids funded kits are as follows:
- The Horsefair
- Symes Resource Centre, Hartcliffe
- Lebeq Tavern, Stapleton Road
- Nadine's Caribbean Cafe, Stapleton Road
- Victoria Street
- Fishponds Road
- Lower Ashley Road
- Ravenscourt Road, Patchway
- The Packhorse Pub, Lawrence Hill
- Bond Street, Bristol