The first life-saving The Daniel Baird Foundation bleed control kit cabinet in Sutton Coldfield has been installed at Ian Hazel Funeral Directors in Mere Green

Potentially life-saving bleed kits have been installed in Sutton Coldfield after a police officer from the town spoke to the mum of a tragic stab victim. Zoe Bishop from Roughley had done partnership work with Lynne Baird MBE, mum of Daniel Baird, who was murdered in July 2017, after being stabbed outside the Forge Tavern in Digbeth.

After Lynne told Zoe Sutton was short of the Daniel Baird Foundation Bleed Control kits, Zoe set about fundraising to get at least one in the town. That mission was achieved in just 45 minutes of her GoFundMe page going live at the end of May, after Seb Clough from onethebreadline bakery said he would pay for the whole thing – giving £600 to do so.

And Zoe carried on and raised £1,500 and has already handed bleed control pouches to Sutton primary school, Moor Hall, The Arthur Terry School and at Seb’s bakers at Hillcrest Farm in Worcester Lane, near Harvest Fields. She will hand over more pouches to Streetly Academy, John Willmott School and Bishop Walsh School secondary schools and to New Hall Primary School, in September.

Read more : Armed police swoop as man stabbed near cemetery

While plans are to also install kits at The White Horse pub in Whitehouse Common Road and at the Town Hall in Sutton, with further hopes to get another cabinet in the centre of town. The move comes after a string of stabbings in Sutton in recent weeks. One in Lindridge Road in July and two in as many days in Falcon Lodge in May.

And few in the town will forget the murder of Ozell Pemberton, who was just 16, after a stabbing incident outside McDonald’s in May 2018. Zoe, who works for West Midlands Police, but did the fundraising in a personal capacity, said: “I decided to fundraise to get bleed kits in Sutton Coldfield after doing partnership work with Lynne Baird. I spoke to Lynne and she said there were not many kits in Sutton.

“There is one inside McDonald’s and one at the Gracechurch Centre. But we wanted cabinets outside that anyone can access.”

Original Article: Nick Horner, Senior Reporter, Birmingham Live