Pat Regan

Pat's funeral is at All Hallows Church, Regent Terrace, Hyde Park, on Friday 20th June at 12 O'clock.

Pat was a friend and an inspiration to us all. She made connections with different members of the community in a way that other people couldn’t. We had a great deal of respect for the work she did. She was passionate about spreading the message that violent crime doesn’t just affect individuals but destroys families and communities. Pat spoke from the heart and with a truth, in a language that people understand. She tried to expose the causes and impact of attitudes that can lead to violent crime and also the ones make it harder to deal with it when it does occur. She worked tirelessly without pay to spread her message. We hope that her work will continue and that other families will not have to suffer such grief and tragedy.

Since 2003 Pat worked:

• Directly supporting victims (including witnesses) and their families via home and hospital visits.
• Delivering presentations on the impacts of gun and knife crime, in schools and prisons throughout Yorkshire, talking to young people, mostly males, about the consequences of their actions.
• Working with young people to promote positive ways for them to express themselves and become involved in their communities.
• Working with the police, advising trainee officers on how to deal with communities affected by gun crime more sensitively. She concentrated on police attitudes and stereotyping of the families of victims or perpetrators in the hope that they would have a better understanding of where we (families) are coming from.
• Talking to community groups on their strategies for tackling violent crime
• Meeting politicians and appearing in the national media, raising awareness

As a witness to and victim of the devastation that violent crime brings to a community, Pat experienced first hand the methods the police, support agencies and communities have available to them to cope with the complex issues surrounding violent crime. She felt that she could contribute ideas and solutions that could improve some of these situations, so set up Mothers Against Violence - a grass roots, community-led organisation.

She will be greatly missed by us all.