Death of Jayden Moody
The staff, management and trustees of Worth Unlimited are devastated by the utterly tragic death of 14 year old Jayden Moody in Bickley Road (Leyton, Waltham Forest) on the evening of January 8th. The loss of any life in a violent act is incredibly sad, but that this was a 14 year old makes it all the more heart-breaking.
We knew Jayden, although he was not a regular participant in the sessions we run. In the early part of yesterday evening, some of our team had been chatting with him.
We were running a youth work session on our Youth Bus in the same street and at the same time as the incident occurred, although we were not aware of anything happening until after the alleged perpetrators had fled the scene. Two of our youth workers offered support with first aid and with identifying the victim as Jayden.
We are assisting the Police with their investigation and working in partnership with our colleagues at the London Borough of Waltham Forest where necessary.
Our deepest condolences are with Jayden’s family and friends, as well as other young people in the neighbourhood who will be affected by this terrible event. There are not words to express the horrific waste and appalling loss which has occurred. Please join us in keeping them in your thoughts and prayers.
Our colleagues who were at the scene yesterday are understandably shaken up by being so close to the murder taking place and involved in the aftermath. We are doing everything we can to support them and will continue to do so throughout the challenges of the coming days and weeks: coming to terms with what has happened, supporting the young people we work with to deal with their reactions to this tragedy, and responding to fear and anxiety among both the young people and the wider community.
A single life lost to violence is one too many.
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While we are unable to talk about the specifics of this attack, Tim Evans (CEO) is available for comment on the wider relevant issues of knife crime among young people and the lack of provision available.
