How a beat bobby is using boxing to help keep troubled teens off the streets

The club is the first of its kind to be launched by Warwickshire Police

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13:04, 15 JUN 2019

Atherstone beat manager PC Lloyd Walton has launched a new boxing group to keep troubled teens off the streets

A boxing beat bobby is launching Warwickshire Police’s first club to get troubled teens off the streets and into the ring.

Such is the situation in Nuneaton and Atherstone with the younger generation that Atherstone Beat manager PC Lloyd Walton said urgent action needed to be taken.

“There are issues with anti-social behaviour, minor criminality and drugs,” said PC Walton, who has won a string of bravery awards.

“They start off with a bit of weed and before you know it, they are county lines dealers,” he said.

“Before I left Nuneaton, I took three weapons from kids, it is frightening the way it is going.”

He spent 19 years in Nuneaton and has now been the Atherstone beat manager for 13 months.

Since moving to Atherstone, he has had a huge impact - and that is largely down to boxing.

“We had gangs of 30 kids running around, mainly Mancetter and the town centre, we were getting 20 jobs a night, now we are getting next to nothing,” he said.

“I started some one-to-one sessions with a couple of them at Dave’s on Station Street, then the word spread.

“It has given us a health respect for each other, some of these kids have no role models, they don’t go to school, they have no aspirations, they are blind to the world.

“They are left to their own devices but they can come to us and get discipline, aspiration and respect.”

Members of the 'Nuneaton' team during training for the boxing match against police officers from Coventry

He admits he could have followed the same path into trouble – had he not got into boxing as a child

“I have been boxing for 35 years, my grandad got me into boxing, what worked for me, I hope works for other people,” he said.

“I could have really gone the other way, boxing stropped me getting into too much trouble.”

He has now retired from the sport, having boxed his last match for Nuneaton charity Georgie’s Gift on May 4, taking the Georgie’s Gift title belt in the Godiva Battleground event.

But his love for boxing continues way past hanging up his gloves and the boxing and fitness sessions start on Monday (June 17) at the Fitness Station in Long Street.

The weekly sessions, which will run from 4.30pm until 6.30pm, are for 13 to 21-year-olds.

They are open to boys and girls as long as they have a parental consent form signed.

Sessions are being joint funded by Warwickshire Police and North Warwickshire Borough Council and, if they prove to be a success, could continue past the six month trial.

“I thought we might struggle to get people but we have had so much interest,” he said.

“It is not just about boxing, we will be doing circuits, other sorts of fitness as well as nutritional advice, that sort of thing.”

Anyone who would like more information should email Lloyd.Walton@warwickshire.pnn.police.uk