Wiltshire knife amnesty launched to tackle violent crime

A woman whose brother was stabbed to death says carrying blades "is not worth it."

Jordan Turner set up Change Lives, Say No to Knives in memory of her brother Lee, who died from a single stab wound in Pinehurst, Swindon in October 2021.

She urged young people who carry weapons to hand them in.

It comes as 12 amnesty bins have been introduced across Wiltshire as part of Operation Sceptre - a national campaign of action to tackle violent crime.

Throughout the two week campaign, amnesty bins will be available across the county, including Christ Church in Swindon, Amesbury Baptist Church, St James Church in Trowbridge and Warminster Civic Centre.

Those who hand in their weapons do not face being criminalised.

Lee Turner was carrying a knife when he died from a single stab wound to the chest while on a playing field in the Pinehurst area of Swindon.

Ms Turner, who also runs her own amnesty scheme, said: "He was obviously my big brother, he was loving, fun, caring but yeah, it was a life cut short through knife crime."

His death prompted her to set up charity Change Lives, Say No to Knives in his memory, and Ms Turner now walks the street three times a week encouraging those who carry knives to hand them in.

She said she often meets children, some as young as nine who might be involved in county lines drugs operations, and offers them clothes and food vouchers in exchange for their blades.

She said: "We would ask you if you're carrying anything, if you wanted to hand it over to us - we may offer you a JD voucher or a food voucher in exchange for the knife.

"We can't force them to hand them over. We can't force them to do anything - all we can do is be there for them when they're ready."

Ms Turner said most of those carrying knives "don't understand the risk".

"The majority of the time they will get stabbed with their own knife. That's what we try to explain to them," she said.

Wiltshire's Chief Constable Catherine Roper said it was "incredibly important" to encourage children and young people to recognise where they may be vulnerable", "recognise why they're carrying a weapon" and to "encourage them to hand in their weapon to one of the surrender bins."

She said she hoped the scheme would allow them to "think about some of the choices that they are making", "help them to make better choices" and "steer them away from criminality".

Reverend Norma McKemey from Christ church in Old Town, Swindon, said getting children and young people to give up knives "is a community effort".

"We had an amnesty bin here last year, it was very successful and we will have the same here this year," she added.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [email protected]