Anti-knife crime campaigner Laura Hughes nominated for Pride of Britain award

ITV Granada Reports journalist and presenter Zoe Muldoon met Laura Hughes who is nominated for the regional Pride of Britain Fundraiser of the Year award 2024.

A mother who dedicates her life to tackling knife crime after the murder of her brother has been nominated for a Pride of Britain award.

Laura Hughes, who lives in Formby, set up campaign charity kNOw Knife Crime in 2019, to mark what would have been her brother Colin McGinty's 40th birthday.

Colin was just 21 when he was stabbed 15 times in a case of mistaken identity after a night out in Liverpool in 2001.

Since the charity was formed, Laura has helped raise over £115,000 for life-saving bleeding control kits and cabinets, and carries out knife crime prevention work across the UK.

Laura hopes no-one needs to use these kits, but having them can and do save lives.

"What happened to Colin is happening more and more", Laura said.

"Wherever you see anyone socialising, we want to have equipment there and that's why I'm going to keep going.

"I want Colin's name to be on people's lips by getting the young kids to know that knife crime isn't the norm. That's what scary because it is becoming much more normalised."

In 2019, having never run before, Laura completed a marathon - the first of many fundraising missions for kNow Knife Crime.

This year, more than 16,000 schoolchildren across Sefton took part in a running relay with bleed control kits as the baton, raising thousands for more kits and cabinets to be placed next to their classrooms.

Laura is among four finalists nominated for the Pride of Britain Regional Fundraiser of the Year Award 2024 for the North West.

"I cannot believe that I have been nominated. I am completely over the moon", she said.

"It would be the biggest motivator to keep going. It's such a good accolade to have and makes what we're doing more credible.

"The more people that are engaged with the campaign, the more lives saved."

What is Pride of Britain?

Pride of Britain Awards celebrate the achievements of truly remarkable people who make our world a better place.

Nominated by the public, the winners are from all walks of life, of all ages, and from all over the country. Their achievements are awe-inspiring and a lesson to us all.

Since the first Pride of Britain in 1999, royalty, prime ministers, and hundreds of leading figures from showbiz, sport, politics and the arts have all taken part.

Hosted by Carol Vorderman, the Awards attract an audience of around five million viewers every year in a primetime slot on ITV - making it the highest rated awards show of its kind on British television.

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