More than 50 knives handed in after fatal stabbings in Ilford and Harold Hill
A picture of the knifes handed in to police knife boxes.Photo: @MPSRedbridge - Credit: Archant
More than 50 knives have been surrendered at police deposit boxes after two young people were fatally stabbed in Ilford and Harold Hill.
A hammer and screwdrivers were also handed in. Photo: @MPSRedbridge - Credit: Archant
The blades were dropped off at amnesty bins at police stations in Romford, Ilford and Dagenham.
As well as knives, people anonymously handed over scissors, plyers, screwdrivers, a knuckle duster and a hammer.
The deposit boxes were opened in the week after killings outside Ilford Station and in a Harold Hill Park.
Ché Morrison, 20, was fatally stabbed outside Ilford town centre in Cranbrook Road at 8.48pm on Tuesday, February, 26.
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Florent Okende, 20, of Redbridge has been charged with his murder and will appear at the Old Bailey on April 1.
Jodie Chesney, 17, was stabbed in Amy’s park close to St Neot’s Road, on Friday, March 1.
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Police arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with her murder on Tuesday (March 6) in Leicester and he is now in custody in London.
Lynne Owens, director general of the National Crime Agency, said: “The recent tragic loss of more young lives has caused devastation and highlights the need to urgently tackle the violence epidemic we are seeing. It is more important than ever that we have a cohesive response across law enforcement, government, education, health, and social services.
“Serious violence has many causes, of which serious and organised crime is one.
“We know that organised criminal networks are a driver for violence and our priority is to disrupt the organised crime groups, in order to eliminate the harm they inflict upon communities.
“We are working with local law enforcement to develop a more detailed intelligence picture and have successfully supported forces on operations to target serious violence, including tackling violent street gangs through our work in the County Lines Coordination Centre.”
If you want to hand over a knife, but don’t feel comfortable going to a police station then you can drop weapons off at a Word 4 Weapons collection points.
All the bins are located away from CCTV helping depositees to remain anonymous.
A full list of bins can be found at word4weapons.co.uk and include collection boxes at The Orchard Community Hall, Broadmead Road, Woodford Green; Seven Kings Methodist Church, Seven Kings Road, Seven Kings; and the Salvation Army, in Ripple Road, Barking.
A spokesman for Word 4 Weapons said: “The aim of Word 4 Weapons is to counteract the increasing level of knife and gun crime which is devastating our communities.
“We have a number of knife bins across greater London and the West Midlands.
“Weapons are being used openly on our streets leaving individuals in fear, injured or killed. We are doing something different to bring back the true value of life to a society that is becoming numb to violent crime.”
