Stab victim surgeons to give warnings in classrooms

Victim: Jimmy Mizen, 16, was killed in Lee. His father Barry backs anti-gang classes
12 April 2012

Surgeons who treat gun and knife wounds will be going into classrooms warning young people of the dangers of joining gangs.

In a fresh effort to clamp down on youth violence, pupils as young as 10 will also hear accounts from police officers about how they have to deliver tragic news to families.

The scheme, based on a US programme, is the first of its kind in Britain. Surgeons will give lectures on the struggle to save those with knife wounds and a short film will also be shown in which a teenager is stabbed by a peer.

A pilot scheme is running in nine schools in south London including at Lambeth Academy and Stockwell Park High School, and will soon be extended to a further 29. It is aimed at 10 to 12-year-olds.

Dr Tunji Lasoye, an A&E consultant at King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill, has already given talks. He said: "Many (youngsters) think we can just patch them up and send them on their way. This often isn't the case."

The scheme runs for seven sessions over the academic year and is to be rolled out across Southwark, Hackney, Lewisham, Enfield, Newham and Wandsworth.

Nick Mason, founder and chairman of the Growing Against Gangs project, jointly run by the Metropolitan Police, said: "We are identifying schools in problem areas where there is a lot of gang activity or knife crime. We want to expose the myths surrounding joining a gang."

Barry Mizen, whose 16-year-old son Jimmy was killed in a scuffle two years ago after a glass dish that was thrown at him severed his jugular vein, said school education programmes were one of the best ways of tackling violence.

The 59-year-old shoe repairer from Lee, south-east London, said: "We are growing our own thugs and allowing them to destroy, not only other people's lives, but their own lives too. We need to grab these kids at school and change their behaviour at an early age."

Seventeen teenagers have been killed in the capital this year. In the first eight months, 857 children and teenagers were stabbed and 64 young people were injured in shootings. This equates to an average of three children or teenagers being injured every day.

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