ST HELENS' first knife arch has been installed at Teardrops Homeless Hub and the charity hopes other organisations will soon follow suit.

Teardrops Homeless Hub on Crab Street today, Thursday, March 21 became the first venue in the borough to install a knife arch in support of the #NoMoreKnives campaign organised by The Daniel Fox Foundation.

Service users, guests and visitors will now have to walk through the knife arch every time they head into the venue.

Managers hope this will deter people to carry knives and help people feel safer in the hub.

Nick Dyer, manager at Teardrops said: "We've seen the situation escalating in St Helens and the local area and we decided as a homeless support charity that we would like to install one to keep our service users safe, our volunteers safe and anyone entering our hub safe.

"We think it's a worthwhile cause and something that needs highlighting in the community.

"We are a charity and the arch has cost us £1,200 but if that £1,200 saves 1,200 lives or even one then to us it is worth every penny."

Dawn Jones, the auntie of Daniel Fox who died after he was stabbed on a night out on Westfield Street in September 2016, added: "It's fantastic, we appreciate the work that Teardrops are doing and supporting the campaign, so we are thrilled to bits that they have got this knife arch in, which I believe is the first one in St Helens.

"Hopefully many more can follow the work that Teardrops are doing and install possibly more in the town as well.

"It's a brilliant idea and I've seen it in action and it works perfectly, it's really, really good."

Teardrops hope that other businesses will follow their example and either install or even hire knife arches.

The have also further backed the #NoMoreKnives campaign by painting a knife angel in a mural in the hub.

The Knife arch was installed by Liverpool based firm Scan Guardian.

For more information email nigel@scanguardian.co.uk