Pupils turn to dance to raise awareness of knife crime

• Watch our report from Dani Crawshaw

A group of pupils in Bedfordshire are hoping their dance performances will raise awareness around knife crime.

In the last year, serious youth violence in the county dropped by almost 10 per cent, the equivalent of 200 fewer victims.

It comes as police in Bedfordshire Police carry out a number of weapon sweeps across the county, with more than three thousand knives recovered from the force's weapon bins since last October.

Students at Wixams Academy have based their dance performance on the story of Issac Stone.

In 2014 he was stabbed to death in Bedford, he was just 19 years old, one of a number of young victims of knife crime.

The Academy has council funding to take the performance across schools in Bedford. For their dance teacher it holds particular significance.

A former pupil from a previous school,18 year old Azaan Kaleen, was stabbed to death two years ago in Luton.

Azaan's mum now works with Bedfordshire's Violence and Exploitation Reduction Unit

Police in Bedfordshire have recently been doing weapon sweeps, determined to crack down on knife crime.

The students say if they can prevent even just one death, one family being ripped apart, then their performance has been a success.