Billy's Wish: Hemel Hempstead knife crime charity winds up over emotional toll

Billy's Wish launched in 2012 in memory of Billy Dove, 21, who died in Hemel Hempstead, in 2011

A charity which teaches the dangers of knife crime, set up by the family of a fatally stabbed man, is closing due to the "emotional toll" of running it.

Billy's Wish launched in 2012 in memory of Billy Dove, 21, who died in Hemel Hempstead, in 2011.

It delivered a programme through schools about the "choices, facts and consequences of knife crime".

The family said that after more than a decade, it feels "the time has now come for us to deal with this privately".

Mr Dove died on 6 November 2011 after being attacked in the Hertfordshire town by then 17-year-old Darren McGrath, who was jailed for 14 years for the murder.

Billy's father and his partner, Paul and Tanya Dove, set up a charity to "try to do something positive in his memory" and fight knife crime through "education and promoting positive activities".

Since then, it has been run by a small volunteer team and a part-time education officer, who liaises with schools across the UK.

'Extremely proud'

A post on its website said Billy's murder had "destroyed" the family, with their lives "shunted into directions no-one would ever choose to take".

Darren McGrath had taken cocaine on the night of Billy Dove's murder

"We all feel passionately that it's vitally important to talk about the issues around knife crime, but our pain doesn't go away," a statement said.

"The memory of what happened doesn't fade and never will.

"We are now finding that the expertise required to run the charity on a daily basis, and repeatedly telling Billy's story, has an emotional toll.

"We feel the time has now come for us to deal with this privately."

The charity said it had "sadly come to the difficult decision that Billy's Wish should be wound up" at the end of this year, with any remaining funds distributed to charities and organisations with similar aims.

It added that thousands of children had learnt about the consequences of knife crime over the years and while it "cannot change what happened to Billy, we hope that we have changed some people's perspectives".