Knife Angel arrives in memory of murdered teenager

The parents of Connor Brown, who was stabbed in 2019, welcomed the sculpture to Sunderland

The parents of a teenager who was killed in a stabbing have welcomed a sculpture aimed at deterring knife crime to their home city.

The Knife Angel, which is made out of 100,000 seized blades and knives, was unveiled in an opening ceremony at Keel Square in Sunderland on Friday.

It was brought to the city by Tanya and Simon Brown in memory of their 18-year-old son Connor, who was stabbed to death in Sunderland city centre in February 2019.

Mrs Brown said: "Bringing the Knife Angel to Sunderland has been something we've planned as a family for a very long time."

The Knife Angel was last seen in the North-East in Gateshead in 2020

Connor Brown was stabbed five times after trying to defuse an argument on a night out, with two men subsequently jailed for his killing.

His parents, from Thorney Close, set up the Connor Brown Trust which aims to educate people about knife crime and the impact it has on society.

"We first saw the Knife Angel in 2019 in the summer after Connor was murdered and I knew then this was something I had to do," Mrs Brown said.

"You can't help but feel something when you look at it, it's dark but it's bright, you can see the reason behind it, and you can see the pain behind it," she added.

The statue will be in Sunderland for a month as part of a nationwide tour.

To coincide with its presence, there will also be a series of workshops looking at the effects of knife crime in schools across the city which will be run by the Connor Brown Trust.

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