A mother whose teenage son was fatally stabbed has criticised a safety group for stalling vital knife crime workshops in Braintree schools.

Caroline Shearer’s son Jay Whiston was killed outside a house party in Colchester in 2012 when he was stabbed with a kitchen knife.

Mrs Shearer since set up Only Cowards Carry - a weapons awareness charity which runs workshops in schools across the county, teaching pupils as young as six about the devastating consequences of knife crime.

She contacted Braintree Community Safety Partnership to discuss funding workshops in Braintree schools but their meetings were cancelled three times consecutively.

Mrs Shearer, whose grandson goes to Beckers Green Primary School, has been trying to meet with the group since January.

She has slammed the situation as "ridiculous".

She said: "We are getting frustrated - if anything, they should be contacting us to do these workshops, not the other way round.

"We are still chasing a meeting with the group but how difficult does it need to be?"

Other partnerships including one in Basildon have funded the safety sessions in schools, which cost as little as £2.65 per child or roughly £1,000 per school.

Richard Melton, district commander at Braintree Police and member of the partnership, said funds for projects had "reduced significantly" because of austerity.

He suggested schools may have to stump up the cash themselves for the workshops.

A spokesman for Braintree District Community Safety Partnership said the partnership’s priorities for 2015/16 are domestic abuse, sexual offences and violent crime.

They said no formal request for funding had been made by the charity.