Youth workers will step up one-to-one work in the wake of Thursday’s stabbing in Pinehurst.
Central Swindon North Parish Council has invested heavily into youth work in recent years, including running events and sessions aimed at tackling knife violence.
Youth worker Aaron Webb said that work would continue following a massed brawl on The Circle this week, during which a 16-year-old was stabbed. Five young men have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Police at the scene of the stabbing on Thursday night
He told the Adver: “We’re going to carry on with the good work we’ve done over the last six or seven weeks in the summer holidays.
“We will be doing more one-to-one sessions and more small-group work, where we can raise concerns in regard to knife crime.
“We are going to put some local young people in contact with agencies that deal with knife crime.”
Work would also focus on gang-related issues.
He said youth workers would be working with families who had witnessed the violence on Thursday, who might be concerned for their own safety.
However, Mr Webb reassured people that it was still safe to use facilities like the parks or the youth sessions. “We don’t want people to stay at home worrying about it.”
Aaron Webb, photographed in 2018 after his appointment as a parish council youth worker Picture: DAVE COX
Mr Webb's efforts were praised by ward councillor Ray Ballman. “Our youth worker is out in the community and what he tells me is that there is a lot of anxiety out there in the community. It’s something that’s been going on for a while and the police are also now stepping up their patrols.”
Stephen Henderson, chairman of Central Swindon North Parish Council, said councillors were united in their concern about the “tragic events”.
He added: “I express concern for the family and the victim of the stabbing incident, together with other residents who have been traumatised by what has happened.”
Yesterday, Wiltshire Police’s Swindon commander Supt Adrian Burt warned that any revenge attacks would be dealt with robustly by his officers.
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