Family of man stabbed to death in Bodmin set up charity to stop people carrying knives

• Watch Charlotte Gay's report

The family of a man who was stabbed to death outside of a nightclub in Bodmin have created a charity to discourage other young people from carrying knives.

Michael Allen was 32-year-old when he was fatally stabbed near Eclipse, on Castle Canyke Road, in the early hours of 30 April 2023.

Many others were stabbed during the incident and seven men and women were taken to hospital.

Mr Allen, who went by Mike, was described by his family at the time as a "much-loved son, brother, grandson and uncle".

His family has now created Mike's Trust which supports Devon and Cornwall Police's anti-knife agenda and works with youth groups who help prevent a young person being tempted to carry a knife.

Asked if protecting others helps him with his grief, Mike's father Kevin Allen, said: "Some days, yes. Some days no. Some days you just want to curl up and die and you have to keep going.

"My dream is just to stop there being one less father like me. But if to do that, we support all these youth groups. We have, you know, more youngsters seeing what the youth groups are doing, seeing what good looks like, seeing what good role models look like, seeing great adult roles, having their time taken up with something they become passionate in.

"You know, they get into sports so they get into dance so they get, you know, whatever they get into, you know, suddenly their life becomes full."

Mike himself was also passionate about sport and some of those who played rugby with him have now got tattoos of the gorilla standard motif he had in a tribute to him.

Many people remember Mike as a joyful friend who would "light up a room".

Alicia Puckey, Mike's youngest sister, said: "I was singing at a concert the other week and they said, 'I know your brother. He was amazing. He was just such a happy chap and whenever you walked and he just he warmed up the room'.

"So many people loved him," she said.

But Alicia has said that this time of year is "really hard" for Mike's family.She said: "It's his birthday in January.

"I don't want to be there because I think that's when the realisation is going to kick in that he is gone... It is going to be a really hard couple of months."

Mike's sister: "I struggle going to the road that Mike lost his life on'While statistically the southwest is one of the safest areas in the UK, Alicia said that knife crime in the area has had an impact on how she feels about Bodmin."My husband and I did have conversations of 'is this where we want to live?' Because there's been a lot of violence in Bodmin the last few months.

"I struggle going to the road that Mike lost his life on, and I have to because that's where my family live.

"But then the overwhelming kindness of so many people reaching out to us, asking to support Mike's Trust, raising money, and just being that made me change my mind to go.

"Yes, there has been hurt, there has violence and it's broken us as a family. But then there's so many people trying to put us back together and trying to help us through all of it.

"And actually Bodmin it is a fantastic community. They all pull together in these times and why leave that? Because they are there for you."