Liverpool project encourages young people to put weapons down and boxing gloves up

Video report by ITV Granada Reports journalist Anna Youssef.

A project in Merseyside is hoping to stop those who are young and unemployed from joining and participating in gangs and instead follow a more positive pathway.

The Weapons Down Gloves Up scheme, run entirely by volunteers, offers youngsters the chance to take part in boxing camps as well as providing education and employment opportunities.

One participant, Steven, 16, was stabbed in 2021, he says the project has helped him rebuild his confidence and focus on a career.

"It gets me out of the house," he said. "I have become fitter mentally and physically. You can get all sorts of qualifications.

"You get CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) and all that out of it. I would like to be an electrician."

Another participant, Josh, says many get involved in gangs as a way of making "easy money".

He says: "Everyone's skint. You know what I mean. It is what it is. It is an easy way to make money, they think and then they get brought into it and then they get trapped."

Connor, who has friends who are still in gangs, says he is grateful he managed to "pull myself away from it all before it got worse than it could have been."

"I mean they've got nice things," he adds, "but nice things come with risk. They're constantly looking over their shoulder the whole time. It's not a good way to live."

Everyone who has gone through the programme has got a job, and volunteer say, 93% are still in employment or further education a year later.

David Hughes, who co-founded the scheme says he hopes to give everyone who needs it "a ray of light".

He said: "This isn't just for kids who are on the cusp of crime or involved in crime - this is for youngsters who could potentially find themselves going down the wrong path if they're in search of money.

"We are giving them the opportunity to get full time employment, a well paid job, and a career path and further education as well once they are into work.

"It's been a terrible year for the city with stabbings and shootings, it's been awful.

"They're all amongst it every day of the week, they're walking the streets, it doesn't get worse than what's going on and we are giving them somewhere to come in away from school, train with them.

The project's run entirely by volunteers - one, Billy Moore - hopes sharing his story will help others escape a life of crime and addiction.

"I was about 16 years old and I developed an addiction," he says. "It took me to prison for a very long time.

"There was a lot of contributing factors that lead to the person that I became, especially when I was growing up, and this is why I love working with the kids because there is a lot of contributing factors as to why they behave the way they do.

"I was a kid at home, I had dreams, I had hopes, I wanted to be in the army, I wanted to box for England.

"I had a dad who was drinking alcohol regular, beating me up, I was surrounded by violence, I felt intimidated and I was quite scared and I couldn't speak to anyone.

"My role model was my dad and he was beating me up and I loved him."

He continued: "Bad company corrupts good character.

"When you are in a positive environment, people are talking about training and getting fit, they are talking about work, they are talking about employment, future employment, life skills.

"When you are on the streets, you're talking about guns, you're talking about knives, you're talking about the Givenchy, the Moncler, the clobber you're wearing.

"It's all about the image orientation, if you have the right clothes you fit in, if you haven't then you don't, that's what it is about."