Sunderland knife crime campaigner backs National Knife Crime Centre
There are hopes the new centre will help tackle knife crime
A Sunderland knife crime campaigner hopes a new centre opening today will help combat knife crime.
Tanya Brown's 18-year-old son Connor died in 2019 when he was stabbed to death on a night out.
The National Knife Crime Centre opens in London later bringing together police, government and community groups.
Tanya, founder of the Connor Brown Trust, hopes it will lead to new laws and further education.
She said: "I personally think it's a great idea and it will hopefully be successful.
"I hope it will help families like me who are working hard to prevent knife crime come together and share our one common goal, which is to prevent knife crime, which is all we want as families.
"I think the central team will hopefully be able to share resources and support each other through their skill sets, which I personally think will be key to the main goal, which is reducing knife crime at least by half in the government's plans.
"It's hard to see at this point, with it being relatively new, what the impact will be.
"Hopefully the core team will bring all their skill set together and make that impact as great as possible.
"However, the base of this centre has yet to be announced, which for myself, being a North East based charity, a lot of knife crime issues seem to be forgotten up here in the North, especially in the North East.
"I hope it isn't just a South based facility and the North East and further beyond are included, which I think will be a massive importance to us all."