Gloucester man collects 'despised' knives for police to destroy

Jasper Taitt-Williams collects weapons from parents, siblings, sometimes the young people themselves - and hands them in to the police

A young man who was caught carrying a blade six years ago has turned his life around to become an anti-knife campaigner. The 22-year-old wears a stab vest to collect weapons from people and hand them in to police so they can be destroyed. The BBC has been speaking to him about why the issue needs addressing urgently.

Jasper Taitt-Williams, 22, is putting on a stab vest when we meet in his flat just outside Gloucester.

He doesn't take any risks, no matter how low that risk may appear.

"I always carry a vest, no matter what. I don't want to go and collect a weapon and unfortunately get attacked," he said.

Mr Taitt-Williams runs Put The Knives Down Gloucester, a volunteer campaign group set up in response to the murder of teenager Ramarni Crosby in December 2021.

Ramarni, from the Frampton on Severn area of Gloucestershire, was just 16 when he died from multiple stab wounds and his death sent shockwaves through the community.

Mr Taitt-Williams collects weapons from people and hands them into the police so they can be destroyed safely in a bid to clear the city's streets.

He shows me a bag-full that he has collected recently - there is everything from machetes to kitchen knives in there.

Ramarni Crosby was fatally stabbed in Gloucester in December 2021

Mr Taitt-Williams has welcomed the arrival of a 27ft (8.2m) sculpture called the Knife Angel in Gloucester.

It consists of more than 100,000 seized blades and serves both as a monument to those who have lost their lives to violent crime and a call for social change.

"I'm more than happy, it really does bring that sense of warmth within my heart knowing that Gloucester is being looked upon and Gloucester wants to be sorted out," he said.

He said over the past year he has collected more than 350 knives from across the county.

"I absolutely despise them, I don't want them around me. But if I do need to collect them and drop them at the police station I one hundred per cent will," Mr Taitt-Williams added.

There were 293 knife or sharp instrument offences recorded by police in Gloucestershire between 2021 and 2022.

This compares to 306 offences between 2020 and 2021.

There has been a -2% change in offences since 2018, and the county currently holds the eighth lowest knife crime rate in England and Wales, with 46 offences per 100,000 people.

In neighbouring police force Avon and Somerset, there were 1,265 knife or sharp instrument offences recorded between 2021 and 2022, which is equal to 73 offences per 100,000 people.

Whereas, in Wiltshire, there were 275 offences and 38 offences per 100,000 people.

Later that day we visit Sarah (not her real name) who has contacted Mr Taitt-Williams through his Facebook page.

He unwraps a tightly-packed parcel she hands to him. It is full of knives that she has collected from her 15-year-old brother's bedroom.

"They were all over the bed, under the bed, hidden everywhere," said Sarah.

She said she started to get worried about her brother as he was staying out late and "acting strange". She believes he is carrying them to "protect himself".

"He smokes a lot of weed and that's paranoia. A lot of people out on the streets they all carry knives don't they? They don't feel safe on the streets anymore.

"That's just life nowadays isn't it, to carry a weapon…and it shouldn't be."

Mr Taitt-Williams is surprised at what she has found, amounting to 15 knives in total.

He said: "I've collected numerous weapons before, maybe six or seven at one time but 15 in one go is really shocking.

"I don't understand how someone can possess so many."

These are just some of the knives handed in to Put The Knives Down Gloucester recently

Sarah told me she was "heartbroken" when she found them.

"It was horrible knowing that he had all of these in his bedroom and my kids go around there. That hurt me."

'Gut-wrenching'

After we leave Sarah's house Mr Taitt-Williams is still shocked by what she had found.

"It's gut-wrenching that she found 15 weapons," he said. "I'm lost for words."

There is a reason Mr Taitt-Williams is so passionate about what he does.

Just six years ago he was caught carrying a knife and was fined, handed an 18-month suspended sentence, ordered to do unpaid community work and tagged for six months.

Mr Taitt-Williams was caught carrying a knife six years ago and fined and ordered to carry out community work

He has had friends who were stabbed and now wants knives off the streets for good.

"I do have regrets about what I did when I was younger, but if I hadn't done those things I wouldn't be where I am today," he said.

"I'm terrified that another incident will happen which is why I'm trying so hard to get knife crime reduced.

"Nobody deserves to get stabbed. Nobody deserves to sit in a hospital. Nobody deserves to get a phone call saying that their son or their brother or sister has passed away due to knife crime. It just needs to stop."

Next we head to the police station in the centre of Gloucester where Mr Taitt-Williams has brought a bag full of knives to be disposed of.

Acting sergeant Bee Chant inspects some of the knives Mr Taitt-Williams has handed in

He meets acting sergeant Bee Chant who works for the Gang Reduction Intervention Team in the city that was set up after the stabbing of Mr Crosby.

She told me they are working to try and ease tensions between half a dozen street gangs involved in drugs and violence.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried," she said.

Mr Taitt-Williams with some of the weapons he has collected before handing them into police

"From seeing the knives that are coming in, they are holding on to these items, yes they're at home at the moment but we can't say they're not taking them out with them.

"We've had several incidents recently and I do think unless we really work with young people, there is scope for it to happen again."

Sgt Chant asks Mr Taitt-Williams what the young people who give him knives are saying to him. She knows that getting through to them is key to tackling knife crime.

Sgt Bee Chant works for the Gang Reduction Intervention Team set up after the fatal stabbing of Ramarni Crosby

"They're carrying mainly because of a fear factor. But as much as I can tell, they don't want to be carrying knives anymore, they want to have an easier life," he told her.

Sgt Chant is impressed with what he is doing.

"Absolutely phenomenal. He's got that in with young people," she said.

"He sees it from both sides, so if we can work with Jasper more closely I think it will be really good for us. He's fabulous.

"If he can take those knives off the streets, that's what we want," she added.

Mr Taitt-Williams is committed to collecting the knives because he knows it can help make the streets he was born and brought up on safer but he wants the authorities to do more.

He wants to bring back something which I've heard a lot about since they were closed over a decade ago - youth clubs.

'Left to rot'

"When I was younger we used to have youth clubs and it was one of the best times we could have had," he said.

"We had a safe place to go. We had different activities, different learning. When the youth clubs went we was just left out to rot. The youth clubs closed when I was about 11.

"That was just as I was starting secondary school, just as I was meeting other people from different areas and that's when things started to get bad for me," he added.

Sgt Chant puts a knife into an amnesty bin

Mr Taitt-Williams has a part-time gardening job but wants to go full-time collecting knives and running workshops for young people with Put The Knives Down Gloucester.

He is still a young man himself but is dedicated to his cause - taking knives away from those who could end up taking lives.

The Knife Angel will be on display in Cathedral Green, Gloucester, from Wednesday 1 February to Tuesday 28 February 2023.