A regional daily handed out 1,500 copies of the newspaper to schoolchildren as part of its bid to end knife crime on its patch.

Free copies of Sheffield daily The Star were handed out to secondary school pupils in the city as part of its ‘Drop The Knife’ campaign.

The front page of Thursday’s special edition on the campaign featured a front page bearing the headline ‘Sheffield needs you alive’.

It also contained an eight-page special report on knife crime in Sheffield which The Star said “ever secondary school pupil must read”.

The initiative has been undertaken in association with local police, council and anti-crime bodies.

An editorial inside yesterday’s paper reads: “But we don’t have all the answers. No big institution could. A shift in mentality can only come from the home, from families, from schools and from the amazing grassroots organisations who work in our communities with those who are most vulnerable.

“You might not associate knife crime with the vulnerable. It is vicious, heartless but it is usually terribly predictable from a young age. Often the killer could quite easily have become a victim. Our children are being manipulated, exploited – and it is time our voices were heard louder than anyone else’s.”

It adds: “Gangs is far too romantic a word to associate with this devastating violence on our streets. As a city we must offer another alternative. Help those that are caught in the cycle of violence, jail those who break the law and make youngsters understand that there is another way.

“In today’s special edition you will read about the real impact of knife crime from those who live with it every day because their loved ones are dead. I hope their stories make you think, that their words are discussed in classrooms across this city.”