The Colin McGinty knife crime awareness campaign continues with London Marathon fundraiser

Laura Hughes and her brother Robert McGinty will run 26.2 miles in memory of their late brother, Colin McGinty, who was fatally stabbed in Bootle in 2001 in what police described as a case of mistaken identity.

The siblings have partnered with Merseyside Police, Everton in the Community and Cash4Kids to fund outreach work in local primary and secondary schools that will raise awareness of knife crime within communities across Merseyside and Lancashire.

Mum of four, Laura Hughes from Formby started In Memory of Colin McGinty to mark what would’ve been her brother’s 40th birthday year in 2019. What originally started as a team of four runners has snowballed into a passionate team of just under 200 people who run and take part in sporting events all over the world including America, Spain, Ireland and Hawaii. Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Ian Critchley is the latest member of the In Memory of Colin McGinty team.

In 2019 the running team raised over £11,000 which directly funded knife crime outreach programmes in schools across Merseyside. The money raised by taking part in this year’s London Marathon and other running events including the Barcelona Half Marathon will be used to pay for further outreach work and Knife Savers haemorrhage control kits that will be placed in prominent community locations throughout Merseyside and Lancashire.

Everton in the Community have been helping to raise awareness of knife crime through the Premier League Inspires outreach work. As part of the sessions delivered in schools from primary year 6 through to secondary year 10, students have engaged with EitC to design an eye catching costume for In Memory of Colin McGinty runners to wear during this year’s Virgin London Marathon on Sunday April 26th.

Pupils aged nine to 15 from schools across Merseyside will present their design ideas to a panel of judges on Friday March 6, 2020 from 10am to midday. Judges including Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Anna Rothery and Superintendent Mark Wiggins who leads the Violence Reduction Unit within Merseyside Police will chat with each design team individually in an expo style set up to determine the winning design.

The winning design will be put into production immediately by Jellyhead Studios who have pledged their support to create a standout costume for the In Memory of Colin McGinty team.

Sister of Colin McGinty, Laura Hughes, said: “While we cannot bring my brother back, we can be a positive force for good in our local communities. We share our story and run these gruelling races in the hope it will make young people aware of the long term impact and lasting trauma of knife crime on the families and perpetrators. We are so proud of the work we have done in a short space of time in schools across our region and hope with their help we can garner national attention with our winning costume on race day.”