Why are teenagers paid to stab each other?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2019

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Young people in Liverpool are being offered hundreds of pounds by older gang leaders to stab each other. An investigation by Layla Wright for Beyond Today found that bounties are being used in knife attacks. We speak to Alan Walsh, an experienced youth worker in Merseyside who spoke to and recorded the teenagers. He says he was shocked by what he heard. Merseyside Police say they have no evidence that this is happening, but have urged anyone who knows about it to come forward. We also hear from Layla about how difficult it was to get the teenagers to speak. Producers: Layla Wright, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.6	Hello, this is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:09.7	I'm Matthew Price.
0:10.8	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today, why are teenagers paid to stab each other?
0:27.0	We're asking that question because of a journalist from Liverpool, Leila Wright, who got
0:36.8	today's story for us while she was trying to work out what was going on with knife crime
0:41.5	in her city. I know myself as like a young girl away from going on
0:43.2	with knife crime in her city? I know myself as like a young girl away from work. When you go into
0:46.3	town now and you have a drink there's been a few you know a couple of cases
0:50.3	recently and it's different atmosphere in the city now and I think that's
0:54.3	that's what's you know got me interested again in reporting about it and saying
0:58.0	listen what's causing this why is there being such a noticeable difference in a change both you know on a night
1:04.4	out and in the street as well with the gangs I think that's when I start to get a
1:07.9	little bit scary when it starts crossing you know it's not just the gangs it's also
1:11.8	you know normal people as well who have fallen victim and have died.
1:15.9	What Lila discovered is that teenagers in Liverpool are being paid to stab each other.
1:20.8	Young kids are getting money put on their heads in all that.
1:24.0	There's like 15 kids who've done it, yeah, and two kids split it.
1:28.0	That's going down to watch straighteners and people are getting stabbed and going there as far as soon each.
1:34.0	It's really unusual to hear young people saying the kind of things that they told us for this episode.
1:39.0	They talked about the bounties on their heads,
	...

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