Brave mother who campaigned against gun crime after her son was shot dead is found st

[Snowden]

Brave mother who campaigned against gun crime after her son was shot dead is found stabbed to death at her home


By Nicola Boden
Last updated at 3:10 PM on 02nd June 2008




Determined: Pat Regan became a national figure in the fight against gun and knife crime after her son was shot dead in 2002

The grandson of a woman who started a national campaign against gun crime when her son was shot dead has been arrested after she was brutally stabbed to death in her own home.

Pat Regan, 53, a co-founder of the Mothers Against Violence campaign group, was found dead at her flat in Leeds last night.


She became a national figure in the fight against gun and knife crime after her son Danny was gunned down in a suspected gangland killing in December 2002.

West Yorkshire Police have confirmed her own grandson, Rakeim, 20, has been arrested in connection with the murder.

It is understood he was arrested earlier yesterday by the British Transport Police after an unrelated stabbing at Leeds train station.

A BTP spokesman said a man was initially reported for trespassing at the station before he then allegedly attacked a member of station staff with a knife.

'The injured member of rail staff, a 45-year-old man, was treated by paramedics at the scene. He was then taken to Leeds General Infirmary and is receiving treatment for a stab wound to the arm.'

The 20-year-old, who has mental health problems, was taken to a police station for questioning on suspicion of attempted murder after the incident.

After the discovery of Mrs Regan's body at 7pm, he was also questioned by murder squad detectives about her death.



Shot dead: The campaigner's son Danny was killed in a suspected gangland murder in December 2002

One of her Mothers Against Violence colleagues, Lorraine Fraser, said the campaigner had tried desperately to get help for her grandson but failed to do so because he was over 18.

Ms Fraser, whose son Tyrone, 16, was killed in a knife attack in 2004 said: 'She was a very brave lady and screamed out for help for that child but because he was over 18 they wouldn't do anything.

'She said "If anything happens, you'll soon be down to help". And look - something has happened and everybody's too late.

She added: 'She saved lives and lifted people up. She did a hell of a lot. She was there to help people and she helped me when I lost my son.

'She was a lovely woman and I loved her. It's difficult to be brave but what can I say, she lifted me up mother to mother and told me to be strong.'

Ms Fraser, who had been set to visit Downing Street with Mrs Regan to sign a Life Means Life petition, criticised the Government for failing to help their campaign to get knives and guns off the streets.

'The people in government all sit at a round table and nod and agree and give you sympathy but why don't they do anything?


'This country has gone to pot. Something must be done to get weapons off our streets. I'm just gutted about it. I feel numb.

'Pat never got any handouts or funding from the Government to help her do their job. She'd do it all on her own.'

Vowing to continue campaigning, she added: 'She wanted the youngsters to realise how precious life is. She wanted peace and tougher sentences so people wouldn't think they'd just get a slap on the wrist. Pat struggled for that.'



Sealed off: Police were on guard outside the entrance to the block of flats in Leeds

Mrs Regan, a mother of six, became an avid campaigner against gun and knife crime after her son was killed more than five years ago.

The 26-year-old father-of-two, who became a drug dealer after dropping out of school aged 15, was shot dead in his home in St Helens, Merseyside.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith led the tributes to the campaigner today, saying she was 'extremely shocked and saddened' to hear of her death.

'I had met Pat on several occasions and had been greatly impressed with her dedication to tackling gun crime.

'Pat worked tirelessly and achieved a great deal for the voluntary organisation Mothers Against Violence, going into schools and educating young people on the dangers of joining gangs and carrying weapons. Her death is a great loss.'

Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central and Environment Secretary, added: 'She made a huge impression on me and on everyone she met.

'She was determined to do all she could to stop any other mothers going through the pain and suffering that she experienced when her son Danny was killed.

'Her passionate belief that things did not have to be this way shone through in everything she did. It is why she will be greatly missed.'

Greg Mulholland, the MP for Leeds North West, added: 'She was such a down-to-earth person, who managed to have a great sense of warmth and humour despite the tragedy that she suffered when she lost her son Danny to gun crime.

"She was an inspiration to people not only here in Leeds but also to people up and down the country with her tireless campaigning. She will be a real loss to the community she loved and to the campaign she set up and championed.'


Tributes: Friends and family left bouquets of flowers outside the flat where Mrs Regan was killed

Mrs Regan's first floor flat in the Hyde Park area of Leeds was sealed today and its window shrouded by tarpaulins as officers moved in an out.

Bunches of flowers including a bouquet of red roses and other tributes had been left by friends and family at the entrance to the block.

One note read: 'My wonderful grandmother. RIP Pat. Love and miss you always. Never forgotten. Kyle.'

Mrs Regan's husband was among a group gathered outside. Sobbing, he said he was too upset to talk.

Ashla France, who arrived to lay some flowers with her son Vinod, said: 'She gave the community a voice. I'm here on a personal note - she helped me and my family. It made me want to get involved in the work she did.'

Sylvester Johnson, 74, said he was stunned at the campaigner's death, who he described her as a 'quite remarkable young lady'

'Since her son died, she campaigned more for the better. She didn't want any young people to get caught up in the trouble that her son got caught up in,' he said.

A former neighbour, who was walking her dog past the estate added that Mrs Regan had always been 'happy and bubbly'.

She said: 'Everybody had a lot of respect for her. She always kept herself busy, especially with her campaigning. She was normally a really happy person.'

'I saw her quite depressed over Christmas but that was to be expected really after her son Danny was shot a while back.'




Determined: Mrs Regan and fellow campaigner Michelle Forbes outside Number 10 after an anti-gun crime summit last year

Mrs Regan had desperately tried to steer Danny away from a life of crime and never allowed him to bring home drugs or guns.

Shortly before he was murdered, he had spoken of trying to turn his life around, she revealed in an interview last year.


'He was going to run a nightclub in Middlesbrough. He said he wanted a girlfriend who didn't need to take drugs at the weekend to have a good time. He wanted an intelligent girl to bring him out of the street life,' she told the BBC.

After his death, she set up her own organisation in Leeds, visiting schools to give talks about the dangers of getting involved in crime.

Co-founder of the group, Dee Edwards said today: 'She's made such a big difference to so many people's lives. This is an absolute tragedy for so many people.'

'It's just the most dreadful news for everyone. She's just an amazing woman. We just love her to bits, she's just an incredible lady, I just can't take this in.'

Her voice breaking with emotion, she added: 'She's open, she's honest, she's got a massive heart, she helped so many people...

'We were terrified something like this would happen to her.'

Another colleague, Lucy Cope, described Mrs Regan as an 'amazing lady' who had touched the lives of all who knew her.

'She didn't have a bad bone in her body or a bad word to say about anybody. I was honoured to be her friend,' she said.

'All the mothers have been on the phone this morning crying, all heartbroken. A part of us has been taken. It's just horrendous.'

Of her work, she added: 'Every single time another family went through the tragedy of gun crime in Leeds, Pat Regan knocked on that door and held the hands of the mothers. She will never be forgotten, never.'

Mrs Cope said her friend's family had been 'her life'. 'She doted on her children. She was a devoted grandmother and mother,' she said.

As a campaigner, Mrs Regan attended an anti-gun summit at Downing Street last year after a spate of teenager killings across the country.

Later in the year, she praised the Government for finally taking action on the issue but said young people appeared to no longer respect their own lives or those of others.

Speaking at an event for another murdered man in 2006, Mrs Regan declared: 'It has got to stop. How many more young people are going to die before something is done?'


Brave mother who campaigned against gun crime after her son was shot dead is found stabbed to death at her home | Mail Online

[conlor]

It would be pretty much impossible to get guns and knives off the streets. Something would need to be done to educate the people who are using them. Somehow they need to learn to want a better life for themselves.

[Snowden]

Two things about this article caught me up.

1) Guns; we see the shooting victim was pushing drugs. He was killed, no doubt, by another drug pusher. This is England, where guns are outlawed. So only the outlaws have guns. Tell this to a Liberal and you will be told that guns should not be permitted, and on and on and on. As we all know, guns kill people!

2) She is stabbed to death. How can this be when, as we all know, it's guns that kill people.

She was fighting to keep guns off the street, to make the streets safer. Poor woman; a good heart, but not thinking clearly. No wonder; she had lost her son.