70 people gathered for religious vigil to remember 16-year-old fatal stab victim Fred Shand

Following the passing of 16-year-old Fred Shand after he was fatally stabbed, around 70 people gathered for a religious vigil to remember the schoolboy.

The incident happened at 3.35pm last Wednesday (March 22) in Harborough Road near The Cock Hotel junction, when Fred suffered a single stab wound to the chest and died at the scene.

Since then, hundreds of people have attended the war memorial in Harborough Road to lay flowers, messages, balloons and football shirts.

A vigil of prayer was held by a collection of Kingsthorpe churches on Sunday (March 26), close to where the incident took place.

Father Oliver Coss, the rector at All Saints’ Church, was invited to attend and pronounce a blessing at the conclusion of the vigil – which he was glad to be able to contribute.

Taking to social media, he expressed gratitude to the churches for organising the gathering and described it as an “arresting day”.

Father Coss shared that at the end of the vigil, a teenage boy and his mother approached him.

The teenager was a student at his church school a few years ago and attended the same school as Fred – which led to Father Coss’ realisation that when Fred was in year five, he too would have listened to one of his assemblies.

Talking to this newspaper, Father Coss said: “Northampton is a big town but everyone is closer than we give credit for. You don’t have to go far before you find connections to others.”

Other attendees also found they had closer connections to Fred and his family than they thought, after speaking to those gathered at the war memorial – which Father Coss says was “moving”.

He added: “We all had a desire to come together at a place where blood had been split, and express our desire that we don’t want to see this kind of thing again.

“It is now about peace, community building and healing after a terrible time, and showing hope for what will happen next.”

Father Coss says the message is simple – do not carry knives on the streets.