The mother of teenager who was murdered in a knife attack has vowed to help "keep kids off the streets and away from violence" after becoming an ambassador for a powerful campaign. 

Jack Woodley was attacked with punches and kicks before being stabbed twice by a 'Rambo-style' 25cm knife in Houghton-le-Spring in October 2021. Last month, his ten teenage killers were jailed for a combined minimum of 124 years for the attack.

The Northern Echo: Jack WoodleyJack Woodley (Image: The Northern Echo)

Now Jack’s mother, Zoey McGill, has joined the ‘Carry Respect, Not a Blade’ campaign to help end knife violence, and she also a paid a visit to the Knife Angel ­in Redcar this week – a statue created in two years from 100,000 weapons which were confiscated or surrendered to police.

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Zoey also met with County Durham boxing club trainers Ronnie O’Brien and Paul Eddy who are working to encourage teenagers not to carry weapons and resort to violence, and instead take out their anger in the ring.

Jayden, Jack’s younger brother, has been taking part in the sessions at the Seconds Out Boxing Club in Ferryhill, with Mr Eddy vowing: “We want to put a stop to it before we have another Zoey McGill walking around the streets.”

Zoey, who described Jack as a "loving" boy who "lit up any room with his laughing and joking" said: “There is nothing for these kids to do because they feel they cannot trust the system.

“As a parent I have found it extremely hard getting children to engage in sports and other activities just to keep them off the streets.

“I’m going to start donating £10 per month to the boxing gym to keep kids off the streets and away from violence and knives.

“As the saying goes ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

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Mr Eddy said “We’ve launched our campaign to try and put an end to knife crime and are pleased Zoey has agreed to become an ambassador for the campaign.

“We don’t want the horrible disease of knife crime on our streets and we want to put a stop to it before any more parents and families suffer.”

Mr O’Brien added: “It’s about getting kids off the street, giving them something to do, a way to burn energy and avoid the peer pressure that often gets them into carrying knives and anti-social behaviour.

“If you give them something they enjoy you’ll get ten times the child you get if they aren’t interested.

“As well as boxing it’s about creating a community spirit. We’ve been working with business owners and we’ve got posters all over the town saying ‘Ferryhill says no to knives’.”

Now the boxing club is working with councillors and businesses as part of a plan to offer free community sessions twice a week to get youngsters off the streets from later this month.

Speaking after Jack’s killers were sentenced, Zoey said: “It puts out a message to other people, if you’re going to involve yourself with this kind of thing, whether you’ve punched, kicked, held someone [down], you’re a murderer,” she said.

"Don’t carry a knife. Don’t put yourself in that position where you could possibly use it and don’t just think because you’ve been with the people carrying the knives that you can’t be prosecuted, because you can and Jack’s case has proved that.”

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