A HAUL of KNIVES handed in during a West Yorkshire weapons surrender last year will be turned into a statue honouring victims of knife and street crime.
A total of 154 knives and swords, as well as 96 guns, were taken off the streets during the ten-day surrender held across the county in November.
Sculptor Alfie Bradley will now use the weapons to form part of a statue being used to promote the Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife campaign, remembering victims who lost their lives.
DCI Paul Fountain, of the homicide and major enquiry team, said: “I am delighted that the knives and other bladed instruments will now be put to good use in something that benefits the whole community.”
Clive Knowles, chairman of the British Ironwork Centre in Shropshire, the organisation behind Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife, said: “Without West Yorkshire Police’s support, this national memorial statue could never be created, its police forces like West Yorkshire that we owe our gratitude too.“We will be forwarding an official invitation to West Yorkshire Police to visit and symbolically weld a knife on to the statue, thus ensuring West Yorkshire is always remembered as part of this unique and historic project.”
MORE TOP STORIES
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here