Council leader reacts to recent stabbings in Stevenage

Christopher Hewett, 31, died after suffering stab wounds to his chest on Friday, February 12, while another man was taken to Lister Hospital after sustaining similar stab wounds in Bronte Paths just four days later.

In the wake of these unrelated incidents, Stevenage Borough Council leader Sharon Taylor has shared a public statement.

She said: "These were terrible incidents that happened in Stevenage, our thoughts are with the family and friends of the murder victim and with the victim of the second stabbing who we all hope is recovering well.

"It is only natural that these incidents will be of great concern to residents and we want to reassure people that such violent occurrences are very unusual in our town.

"We do take incidents like this extremely seriously and will do all we can with our partners to ensure we respond appropriately to make sure that Stevenage is as safe as possible and feels safe for our residents.

"We work closely with the police, sharing important information to help tackle the issue of knife crime in Stevenage.

"Our SoSafe Community Safety strategy, together with our annual partnership action plan, focuses on ways in which partners of SoSafe tackle crime in the town.

"One of the key focuses for SoSafe is to encourage people to come forward and talk to us about any concerns they have in their community.

"SoSafe work co-operatively to tackle all crime that has a detrimental effect on our community and although there is a focus on how we tackle crime such as knife crime and associated nuisance, there is also a focus on how we can divert those involved away from crime and support them to engage with partners.

"Specialist teams are employed across the partnership to work with some of our young people who may of become involved in crime and feel it necessary to carry weapons.

"Workers can help to divert them away from crime and anti-social behaviour, through one to one work and diversionary activities."