News Beat
Connor Brown’s parents MBEs in King’s Honours List 2026
Simon, 56, and Tanya Brown, 45, founders of the Connor Brown Trust, have received the awards in the New Year Honours List for services to the community in Sunderland.
Their son, Connor, was just 18 when he was fatally attacked while on a night out in Sunderland city centre in February 2019.
Two men were later convicted at court of their involvement in his killing and given prison sentences.
Following Connor’s death, Simon and his wife Tanya set up the Connor Brown Trust in their son’s memory, with the aim to steer young people away from crime and violence by raising awareness of the consequences of knife crime.
The charity uses Connor’s story to persuade young people not to pick up knives. Both Simon and Tanya have been involved in sessions aimed at bringing awareness to its consequences.
“After Connor’s court case, Tanya decided to set up the trust and do something to show young people that there’s other ways to deal with things rather than carrying a knife around for defence,” said Simon.
“We go into schools and colleges and tell Connor’s and our story. We show the impact that knife crime has on not just the victim and the perpetrator but on the wider community as well.
“A lot of people think that someone has been killed and it just affects that person who lost their life and the person who’s done it but it’s so much more.”
Simon added that the work the pair do is all in an effort to turn the tragic incident into something meaningful, in an attempt to drive change.
Despite working full-time when the trust was set up, he decided to leave his job in August 2024 and dedicate all his time to the charity after the Knife Angel project came to Sunderland.
He said: “There was too much work coming in for Tanya to handle on her own and we needed to reach as many people as we could so I joined it full-time.
“I’m not going to say it’s easy all the time because it certainly isn’t – I might get halfway through a workshop and it hits me again, but if we don’t do anything then what chance have we got?
“We have to continue in our crusade to talk to as many people as possible to show that carrying a knife should never need to be an option.”
The Connor Brown Trust recently raised £20,000 to install more than 100 public bleed kits across Sunderland and the surrounding area in collaboration with the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS), with kits now located on the exterior of all seventeen Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Stations.
A bleed kit is a specialised first aid tool designed to manage severe bleeding. It typically includes the essential tools which can be used to control excessive bleeding and can be life-saving in case of emergencies.
The kits empower bystanders to act quickly in critical situations, potentially saving lives before emergency services arrive on scene.
Simon added: “With a bleed kit there’s nothing you can do wrong, but doing nothing doesn’t help save a person’s life. If you administer first aid with the bleed kit as soon as possible, there’s a better chance of that person surviving.”
The pair said they were “absolutely blown away” by the nomination and expressed their gratitude to the supporters who help keep the charity running.
“It’s an absolute honour to be nominated in the first place, and to receive it,” said Simon.
“The work we do isn’t measurable because you never know how many people you’ve reached, but we know we’ve reached people and that’s obviously why we’ve been nominated. It’s all about getting the community involved, and they’re great at supporting us.
“I think people think more about the good work that the trust is doing rather than the tragedy now. For us, that’s a massive legacy to keep Connor’s name going in a positive life.”
