Corby: Bleed control kits installed by anti-knife charity

Jack Richman, founder of charity East Midlands Knife Amnesty, organised the bleed kits and cabinets for Corby

Bleed control kits have been installed in a town where a teenager was fatally stabbed earlier this year.

Rayon Pennycook, 16, died in May on Constable Road in Corby, Northamptonshire, on 25 May.

The four bleed control kits and three bleed control cabinets, which are available 24 hours a day, were provided by the East Midlands Knife Amnesty.

Jack Richman, the charity's founder, said kits were "as essential as defibrillators in today's times".

The kits, also known as emergency trauma packs, are similar to first aid kits but include items to stop serious bleeding.

They were provided by the foundation set up by Lynne Baird after her son, Daniel Baird, 26, was stabbed to death in Birmingham in 2017.

The kits have items such as a tourniquet to help stop bleeding

The bleed control cabinets operate similar to a defibrillator cabinet, with users asked to dial 999 and then talked to their use by emergency call handlers.

There are also four bleed control kits, which are available at locations such as shops in the town.

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Mr Richman told BBC Radio Northampton: "Where you see a defibrillator cabinet there should be a bleed control kit.

"They are not just for knife-related incidents, these are things that can be used for road traffic collision [and] accidents in the workplace."

The cabinets are available 24 hours a day and contain instruction on their use inside

Lynn Johnson from the Kingswood Neighbourhood Centre, where one of the cabinets has been installed, said: "We're fully supportive of things that will make the area a lot safe and we have had a couple knife crimes on the estate."

She added that the kit "complimented" the defibrillator cabinet already on the building.

It is hoped there will be 10 more kits in the town by the end of the year.