Bath knife crime: New task group to prevent stabbings

Mikey Roynon, 16, from Bristol died after being stabbed at a party in Bath

A new task group looking at how to reduce knife crime amongst young people has been set up.

It comes after three fatal stabbings in Bath and North East Somerset over the past year, including 16-year-old Mikey Roynon.

Bath and North East Somerset councillors on a scrutiny panel voted unanimously to establish the group.

Council officer Ceri Williams said it would allow investigations to be "more flexible" and "capture more detail."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service was told meetings of the task group will not be open to the public, which Mr Williams said would allow them to deal with information "sensitively."

Membership of the task group is planned to consist of about five members, with all backbench councillors on Bath and North East Somerset Council with an interest in the area invited to participate.

'Collectively prevent deaths'

The group will report back after six months, with recommendations going to the council executive.

Executive councillors are expected to be among those asked to give evidence to the panel, but the group will also be speaking to partners and external groups.

"I don't think it would be effective if we just looked at council only," Mr Williams said.

The panel's chair Dine Romero, who is also the current mayor of Bath, initially suggested the idea for a task group at a previous meeting.

She said she wanted to "actually find out if there's anything more that we as a council or any other agency could be doing."

"What we have seen over the last year is three fatalities, so to see if there is any more that we could be doing collectively to prevent more deaths," she added.