Grandmother donates bleed kits to venues in memory of Liam Taylor

Liam Taylor died after being stabbed in January 2020 at the Rose and Crown Pub in Writtle.

Three men, including Daniel Daden from Witham, were jailed for murder and will serve a total of more than 58 years in prison.

Now Liam’s grandmother, Julie Taylor, has visited Saffron Walden, Newport, Thaxted, Stansted Mountfitchet and Hatfield Heath with Essex Police's Uttlesford PCSOs Michael O’Donnell-Smith and Natalie Smith to donate kits and train the recipients in how to treat someone losing blood.

Julie established the Liam Taylor Legacy fund in memory of her grandson.

Julie, who has been shortlisted for a Pride of Britain award, has so far raised more than £17,000 to help get 109 life-saving kits into venues across Essex and London.

The kits, which cost £104 each, contain gloves, scissors, a foil blanket, a mouthguard for giving CPR, a trauma dressing, a chest seal, a pack bandage, and a tourniquet.

They can be used to treat any type of injury where the victim is bleeding heavily.

Julie said: “These kits need to be no more than three minutes apart in every establishment in the country.

"They are not just for stab victims, they are for all catastrophic bleeds – it could be a car accident or an old lady falling over in the street.”

Just two weeks ago, a landlord used a bleed control kit to save the life of an injured man in Braintree.

Julie is helping to educate schoolchildren about the dangers of knife crime and believes more needs to be done to teach people basic first aid skills.

She also urged people not to be complacent as no-one knows when and where a kit could be used save a life.

She added: “People think it won’t happen in their community and it isn’t until there’s an incident that they realise how important these kits are and then they want one.

“Getting these kits out and helping to save people’s lives is my passion in life.

"You can’t ever let Liam be forgotten. He can’t just be another statistic.”