Brandon Regan was a teenage boy who died "a miserable, cold and lonely death" after he was stabbed multiple times by a drug dealer.
The 17-year-old was murdered in a gang related knife attack in 2018, taking away any chance for him to grow up, mature or change the direction his life was heading in. Brandon was killed after he stole a moped parked outside a drug den ran by Steven Jones, a cocaine and cannabis dealer from Speke.
After this, Brandon was hunted down, rammed off the road, stabbed four times by Jones and left to die alone, in a pool of blood. The outpouring of grief after his murder showed that Brandon was more than the "small-time cannabis dealer" he was described as in court but was also "quick-witted", "always smiling" and dreamed of being an accountant, according to his loved ones.
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All of Brandon's ambitions – everything he could have gone on to become – was taken away by his cowardly killers. And any chance he could have to put the mistakes of his youth behind him and matured into a wiser man was snuffed out forever.
In recent years, many campaign groups and young people themselves have tried to push back against the culture of gangs and knife crime that claimed Brandon's life.. A big part of tackling this culture, is education around the dangers of knife crime.
A new sculpture dedicated to Brandon has now been included in an exhibition aimed at showing the outcomes of carrying knives. Speke Out Against Crime was opened last month at Parklands Library in Speke.
The youth community centre have said the exhibition is aiming to give "young people a voice" by using different artforms to showcase their understanding of actions that can challenge gang culture, knives and inequality.
A key part of the exhibition is 'The Heart', dedicated to Brandon with the approval of his family. The protest art sculpture is aimed to "stir, intrigue and invite the observer to explore both the physical and emotional impacts knife crime has on society".
The sculpture was created by young people in Liverpool, working with international artist Gina Czarnecki.
After Steven Jones, Lewis Gibbons and Jack Butterworth were convicted, Judge Alan Conrad, who oversaw the case, said when the men were convicted: "Another knife used and another young life lost. Brandon Regan died a miserable, cold and lonely death in the garden of a house on Critchley Road."
Despite his mistakes, Brandon had his whole life ahead of him but became another victim of the knife crimes which devastate families in Liverpool and the wider country.
On the display at the exhibition, it says that Brandon attended Speke Adventure Playground in his early years. According to the organisers, this "highlights the need for positive intervention and continued efforts to raise awareness of knife crime and its devastating effects on people, family and place".
Speaking about 'The Heart', Paula Shaw, Chair of Speke Adventure Playground: "Knife crime has a huge impact on the victim, their families, the community and even the perpetrators lives. This piece of work is a highly visual representation and will hopefully leave a lasting impression of the consequences on any person who is thinking of carrying a knife."
Michael Carey, a spokesperson for the charity said: "The ‘Heart in particular, is a fantastic example of collaborative work that showed depth of feeling and thought. As a charity we will continue to bring similar opportunities to Speke with the aim of tackling social issues whilst strengthening links with both wider arts initiatives and the City Centre.”
The exhibition will remain at Parklands Library until the end of March. After that, it will tour libraries in North and Central Liverpool before ending in the city’s Central Library.
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