Northampton teenage thug was offered fresh start away from gang life in months before machete attack

A teenage Northampton thug worked for months with programme to turn his back on gang life... only for him to attack a man on the street with a machete.

Daniel Koopman, of Flaxwell Court, was jailed for four years on Friday for slashing his victim across the forearms in a terrifying machete attack.

Then, when the injured young man went to the police, Koopman - who was 19 at the time - began a campaign of threatening Snapchat and Facebook posts intimidate his targets into dropping the case.

But at his sentencing on Friday (February 12), Northampton Crown Court heard how Koopman had reportedly spent months working with anti-gang programme CIRV to turn away from offending.

The Community Initiative to Reduce Violence was brought to Northampton in 2019 to rehabilitate gang members before they end up in jail - or worse.

However, in Koopman's case, His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo told the court: "I have read the report that you were helped for a number of months by CIRV Navigates.

"Which means that a lot of resources were poured into you to try and deter you from going down the gang route and into the gang lifestyle.

"And despite the fact, you decided your lifestyle was change for the worse."

In July 2020, Koopman and another unidentified attacker jumped their victim as he walked outside Briar Hill Primary School at night.

While one attacker held the victim from behind, Koopman swung a machete at him once and cut him across both forearms.

Then, in the days that followed, Koopman began a campaign of threatening social media posts in a bid to scare his victim into keeping quiet.

They included videos of driving past his address with the caption "talk get stitches". Another read: "Cool your snitching I'm back out now - you better drop the case you silly boy."

"These threats posted on social media get around instantly," His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo told Koopman in sentencing.

"These threats are even more sinister when they share and seen by hundreds of your contacts.

"A custodial sentence is inevitable."

Koopman was sentenced to four years in youth detention. He was also banned from entering the Briar Hill area for five years on release.

CIRV is a multi-agency project designed to reduce gang violence, not necessarily by locking gang members up, but by working with them to show them the consequences of the life they are choosing to lead and showing them an alternative pathway through mentoring, support, job opportunities and other change programs.

Anyone can refer into CIRV - whether that be someone who needs help themselves to get out of ‘gang life’ or someone who is concerned about someone they know.