‘No parents should go through what we did’
Trust launched in memory of muchloved teen to raise awareness of devastating effects of knife crime
The parents of Connor Brown have launched a trust in his name to honour him and raise awareness about the devastating consequences of knife crime.
Beloved teenager Connor was enjoying a night out with friends in Sunderland city centre when his life was tragically cut short during the early hours of Sunday, February 24.
The 18-year-old amateur boxer’s death united the city in grief.
Now his family and friends have officially launched the Connor Brown Trust to educate young people and raise awareness about the dangers of carrying a knife.
Speaking at the launch, which was held at Pallion Action Group yesterday, Connor’s mum Tanya revealed that the family wanted to give something back to the community.
She said: "It has been very emotional, we’ve been planning this for so long now and because of Covid and all the restrictions, we’ve put it off but to have it finally here and done just means that we can start putting our work into practice.
“People say that they don’t know how we got through all of this but we had the arms of the people of Sunderland wrapped around us.
"They held us up through their comments, their kindness, their support, through everything that they did – it was them that kept us going.
"And that’s why we want to give something back, we want to make our streets safer for them so if we can help hundreds of children or just a small number of children, that is all that matters to us.”
The logo of the trust is the same artwork that was designed by Frank Styles at the scene of Connor’s death and the trust will also help lowincome families to be able to gain access to sport and youth clubs.
The Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, was also at the launch, she commented: “I’m just completely blown away by the strength of this family, they have been through such sadness and they’re turning this into such a positive launch.
“Connor’s death was a horrible and shocking event that no parent should ever have to go through but it is also one that could have prevented if our country really focused on steering our young people away from crime and violence.”