Grieving family of teenager murdered in gang violence warns 'any child' vulnerable to exploitation

• Tanya Mercer spoke to the parents of Joe Dix who was killed in a gang stabbing

The grieving family of a teenager murdered in a gang-related stabbing have warned that "any child" could be exploited by gangs.

Joe Dix, 18, was found lying in a road with serious knife wounds in the Vale Green area of Norwich on 28 January 2022. He had been stabbed seven times, and died in hospital an hour later.

Now, his parents are warning it could be "any child, regardless of your background, your family life, your religion, your colour".

They issued their warning as part of ITV News Anglia's series Growing Up With Gangs, which has analysed the evolving danger of gang culture, its consequences and possible solutions.

In the final of three exclusive reports, ITV News Anglia looks at the lives lost to gangs and the people trying to prevent the exploitation of those most at risk.

Joe Dix's parents, Phil and Emma, said the pain of losing a child was something they lived with every day.

"Every time we hear on the news about another stabbing somewhere and the person has died, we say to each other: 'I can't believe there's another family now feeling as rubbish as we do every day.'"

Mrs Dix said her son got "sucked in" to the gang and did not want his family to know the extent of the danger.

She said her son would tell her: "You just don't know what I've seen and what I've done.

"I'm in debt 10 grand, I get mugged and I don't come home because I've been beaten up. And I don't want you to see that. And I don't want the family involved.”

Organisations and academics are warning many vulnerable people are in danger if more is not done to tackle gang exploitation.

Suffolk Police have a child exploitation and gangs team to identify and support youngpeople at risk from exploitation.

The county also has a group of organisations including police, the youth justice service and local councils combined to make up a Safer Stronger Communities Board.

However, Supt Andy Martin said the fact that gangs were becoming more localised, the people being recruited were getting younger, and the use of social media, were all making it harder to combat.

"We cannot police our way out of gangs. And what we need is that support and investmentinto our partners, into third agencies to help them offer alternatives to young people in theearly stages.

"What we need to accept as a society is that gangs are here to stay as a cultural element of society. If we don't take the long route, then we won't solve it.”

The Home Office recently allocated £150,000 to Suffolk's Safer Stronger Communities Board to help combat gang exploitation.

Tim Passmore, Suffolk's police and crime commissioner, acknowledged it was a modest investment but argued it was for "a very focused, targeted area".

"The track record of the multi-agency approach we adopted six years ago in Suffolk is really bearing fruit," he said, pointing to the decline in known county lines gangs.

But experts said the current approaches failed to tackle the issues underpinning the whole system.

Dr Paul Andell, associate professor of criminology at the University of Suffolk, said: "Youth work has been decimated over the last 10 to 15 years. Multi-agency approaches are fraught with difficulties.

"We need significant investments in youth services. We need significant investments addressing the people that sits underneath this alternative economy of drugs.”

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