Mum of stabbed teen 'proud' to back bleed kits

A mum whose son died in a fatal stabbing says she is "proud" to be involved in the roll-out of potentially life-saving bleed kits.

It takes about four minutes for someone to lose a critical amount of blood after a traumatic injury, such as a stabbing. Bleed kits can stem blood flow and help preserve life until ambulance crews arrive.

In Wiltshire, a new 'Bleed Kit Partnership' has launched to allow people, businesses and community groups to buy kits including tourniquets and wound dressings.

Zoe Mitchell's son Owen was killed in 2022. She said: "These are important, not just for knife crime. If you have a first-aid box, why not have a bleed kit next to it?"

The bleed kits can be bought by councils, companies or community groups and installed in places like schools, bus stops, council offices and sport centres across Wiltshire.

In a similar way to how defibrillators are used, when someone calls 999, call handlers will be able to direct people to the nearest bleed kit in their area and instruct them on how to use it.

There are also colour-coded instructions inside the kit, which show people how to urgently cover a wound, wrap a tourniquet around a leg or plug a wound if they don't have access to a phone.

The kits also contain gloves, scissors and a whistle.

Mitchell, who founded the charity Owen's World in memory of her son, added: "I know people don't want to accept knife crime as an issue, but I think having them [bleed kits] there - it could save a life.

"I feel very proud to be part of it, it's keeping Owen's memory alive. I hope he's up there, looking down at me, proud."

The charity offers free training on how to use bleed kits and teaches people how to stem bleeds with clothing.

Representatives also go into schools to get to the "root cause" of why young people carry knives.

The Bleed Kit Partnership was launched by Wiltshire Police who worked with HeartSafe UK, NHS England South West and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on the scheme.

Lianna Bradshaw, crime prevention lead at Wiltshire Police, said the kits were for the "really small window of time" between an incident and ambulance crews arriving.

She added: "The kits are designed for any member of the public to use with little to no training at all and empower them to help with those situations which genuinely can be life-saving situations.

"You've only got a couple minutes with a catastrophic bleed, so time is absolutely of the essence."

Supt Mike Vass, strategic knife crime lead for Wiltshire Police, said the kits "bridge the gap" for normal people who reach the scene of a major incident - like a crash or stabbing - before anyone else.

He said: "We are enabling communities - who are always there first - to respond to slow or stop a bleed to potentially save somebody's life before professional responders arrive on the scene."

When asked how the scheme would be funded, Vass said the situation was similar to Avon and Somerset, where 800 bleed kits have been installed.

There, the scheme has been paid for through foundations, charities, community groups and police partners.

He acknowledged the bleed kits don't prevent knife crime, but said work is ongoing with young people to prevent knife crime in the first place.

Vass continued: "We are looking to establish a really strong network across all communities of the Wiltshire policing area.

"There are bigger urban areas, smaller urban areas, villages and really small isolated rural communities.

"This is about being really clear about where the need is."

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