THE FRIENDS and family of a Flintshire man fatally stabbed are set to take a stand against knife crime in his memory this weekend.

Steven Wilkinson, 23, died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital on October 5 after the incident in Precinct Way, Buckley, the previous night.

An inquest opening on October 10, revealed that Mr Wilkinson had died as a result of being stabbed through the heart and the lung.

On Saturday, October 15, residents of Buckley and beyond will gather to pay their respects to Mr Wilkinson and campaign against knife crime.

They will do so besides the knife angel statue which has recently been placed on Queen Square in Wrexham.

The monument stands at 8.2m (27ft) tall, weighing 3.5 tons, and is made from over 100,000 seized knives and weapons collected from all 43 Police Constabularies across the UK.

At present, at least 40 residents are expected to head down, donning t-shirts with Mr Wilkinson's face on them.

Gary Joy, landlord of the White Lion pub in Buckley, was the man who organised the event.

He said: "People heading down will be meeting us here for 9am and we will have shuttle buses laid on to the train station in Buckley leaving for about 10.30am.

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"We just want to pay our respects to Steven and also highlight the issue of knife crime.

"His family members will be coming along with us and we're inviting anyone who wants to come to the pub on the day. The more, the merrier really."

Gary adds that a DJ event night will also be held on October 22 to help raise money for Mr Wilkinson's funeral costs.

Another fundraiser, organised by Liam Corbett, has so far collected over £4,500 for the funeral.

That GoFundMe page described Mr Wilkinson as 'one of a kind' and someone who would 'always do anything for anyone'.

You can donate to that, by visiting this link.