A POLICE sergeant has stated his public support for the Gazette’s campaign to stop knife crime in the city of Colchester.

The campaign was launched last month after the Gazette spoke to several bereaved parents who had lost children to knife crime.

Throughout October, the Knife Angel – a sculpture made up of 100,000 seized blades – stood outside Jumbo as a memorial to victims of knife crime.

As Essex Police continues its action on knife crime across the county, Sergeant Christian Denning, who was in Colchester on Tuesday as part of the Business Crime Team, threw his support behind the Gazette’s campaign.

He said: “I support any campaign to raise awareness of knife crime.

“Knowledge is understanding and knowledge is half the battle.”

Sgt Denning continued by saying that retailers are now starting to take responsibility when it comes to ensuring knives do not fall into the wrong hands.

“That’s one thing I would really like to get across – that it is not just knives, retailers have to be - and are being – responsible sellers of a number of products.

“We ask that retailers come on this journey with us, explain this agreement to staff and to ensure, to the best of their ability, that anyone working at the business complies with the requirements.”