The fatal stabbings of three children have sparked a regional daily’s bid to end knife violence on its patch.

Newcastle daily the Chronicle has launched the ‘Stop Knives Taking Lives’ fight, which is backed by Northumbria Police and Northumbria’s police and crime commissioner Kim McGuiness.

Since October, The Chronicle has covered the deaths of Tomasz Oleszak, 14, from Gateshead, Gordon Gault, 14, from Newcastle, and 15-year-old Holly Newton, from Haltwhistle, Northumberland.

Last month, the newspaper published an image on its front page of Gordon while he lay dying in hospital as his mother Dionne Barrett, who has backed the fresh campaign, sought justice for her son.

The campaign’s launch follows a similar move by rival North-East daily the Northern Echo, which called in October for then-Prime Minister Liz Truss to do more to tackle the issue.

The Chronicle splashed on Friday with photographs of some of the region’s victims of knife crime.

In a piece announcing the campaign’s launch, Chronicle crime reporter Sophie Doughty wrote: “Together we are calling on every community in the North East to come together to tackle knife crime. Everyone has a role to play.

“Whether it’s parents talking to their children about the dangers of carrying knives, or individuals speaking to police when they know of someone carrying a blade or involved in a crime, if there is something we can do to help stop this heartbreaking epidemic we all must.”