Tackling the rise in knife crime

By Thelma Etim
BBC News, Berkshire

More knife crimes have been recorded in Berkshire

One summer's evening in July 2001, Scott Davis went out on the town to celebrate a friend's birthday party.

The 25-year-old did not know he would never return to his Reading home alive.

Caught up in a fracas in the town's shopping centre, The Oracle, Mr Davis was stabbed nine times.

His death ripped through the heart of the Davis family, who, seven years on, are still struggling to come to terms with their loss.

Scott's death tore our family apart Lucy Davis

Many of them have even moved to another part of the country in an attempt to put the tragedy behind them.

"Scott's death tore our family apart," said his younger sister, Lucy Davis - the only family member to remain living in the town.

"He was easy going, fun-loving and a very polite, popular cheeky chappy.

"We all lived together in Reading, including my other two sisters.

"But after he was killed, my parents and my sisters moved out of our family home to the Midlands because they could not bear the memories.

"They did not want to be in the town anymore.

"We still cannot sit around a table and talk about Scott - it is just too painful."

Kevin Artimion Alvardo, 18, who pleaded guilty to his murder, is now serving a life sentence following a trial in February 2002.

The children's charity NCH said young people fear knife attacks

Ms Davis added: "We have also have been given a life sentence."

As the latest figures show knife crime in parts of Berkshire, including Reading, has nearly doubled, Thames Valley Police says carrying a knife has become a "fashion statement".

This bleak revelation marks what one criminologist has described as a "significant cultural change" in Britain.

Criminologist Kevin Stenson, a professor at Middlesex University's Crime and Conflict Research Centre, said more investment in youth services is needed.

"Youth work is usually done on a shoe string," he said.

'For respect'

"But if you really want to reach kids at risk you really have to go to town on proper outreach youth work with better funding.

"Most of the big crime surveys are not good at tapping into what is happening to young people - the under 16s.

Random checks are part of a force wide campaign

"They are the people who fear being attacked with knives, they carry them because the are scared and for respect. It is about macho status."

Prof Stenson's observations are reflected in a report carried out by the children's charity NCH, which recently revealed more than one in every 10 young people had been personally affected by gun and knife crime.

He added: "Alcohol [abuse] is significant in knife crime and the availability of cannabis, especially Skunk.

"Turf wars involving drugs can quite often lead to knife attacks - confrontation is a major problem in poorer London boroughs like Hackney and Lambeth.

"The great concern is that it is rolling out to the suburbs."

Insp John Fox is in charge of Operation Blunt, a force-wide campaign targeting knife crime in Thames Valley.

Launched in November 2006, the scheme has a two-pronged approach focusing on both education and enforcement.

Police carry out random searches in pubs and clubs using metal detectors similar to those in airports.

"Like most things we don't expect to see an overnight result, it takes time for message to seep through but we need to keep on with this message and eventually it will work," said the inspector.