Walsall stab victim's girlfriend says everyone is broken

The girlfriend of a man who was stabbed to death has said his family and friends are broken without him.

Bailey Atkinson, 20, was attacked on Walsall's High Street on 28 January.

Angel-Lee Lucid spoke after a second man, Akeem Francis-Kerr, 29, was fatally stabbed in the West Midlands town at the weekend.

Eight people, including boys aged 15 and 17, have been charged with Mr Atkinson's murder. Police have appealed for witnesses over Mr Francis-Kerr.

"Everyone is broken," Ms Lucid said.

"It's just horrible not seeing him around."

The house was quiet and not the same without him walking in the back door and being loud, she added.

Ellie Jenkins, a friend of Mr Atkinson, has helped raised £2,500 for a bleed control kit to be put up in the Bloxwich area of Walsall borough, where Mr Atkinson lived.

"People are obviously picking up knives to hurt people and it's just becoming more normalised within the younger generation and that should not be happening," she said.

In the latest town centre stabbing, just weeks after Mr Atkinson's death, Akeem Francis-Kerr was fatally wounded at Valesha's nightclub, known as Colliseum, on Newport Street, in the early hours of Saturday.

Police said they were speaking to witnesses and reviewing CCTV footage from around the area.

Speaking outside the nightclub earlier, Ch Supt Phil Dolby, of the West Midlands force, said of the guilty: "We're going to catch you."

He added: "I would encourage you to hand yourself in as soon as possible as the longer you leave that, the more that may go against you in the later court of law."

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