Amazing monument to lives lost through knife crime unveiled in Hull city centre

Alfie Bradley was speaking as the artwork, made up of knives collected through police force surrender campaigns across the country, was unveiled in Hull.

Messages from families who have lost loved ones have been engraved on the imposing artwork, which is on show at Queen's Gardens, in the city centre.

The sculpture was originally housed at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry and then went on display outside Liverpool Cathedral, before coming to Yorkshire.

Mr Bradley made the sculpture over a year and a half and had to individually bleach and blunt every knife.

He said: "I thought an angel would be the best thing to do because of the amount of lives lost.

"I never realised how emotional it was going to be, but the more and more it went on and the more I met families it became a lot more personal."

It is part of a wider campaign to raise awareness of knife crime, which has been into all schools in the Humberside Police area.

More than 1,700 knife crimes were recorded in the force area in 2018, with more than a third recorded in Hull.

Assistant chief constable Scott Young said: "We don't suffer the same issues to the extent that other major cities have seen, however knife culture and violent crime is rising across the entire country and Humberside and we take it incredibly seriously.

“I hope as many people as possible will come down into the city centre to see this wonderful sculpture.”