A paramedic from Kenton helped raise more than £10,500 for a knife crime charity by taking part in the London Marathon with a group of colleagues.

Yasir Aslam, who is based at Pinner ambulance station, completed the 26.2 mile race, his first ever marathon, in five hours 27 minutes.

Mr Aslam and 14 other London Ambulance Service (LAS) workers all wore purple vests as they went that extra mile for the Ben Kinsella Trust which was set up after the 16-year-old was stabbed to death in 2008.

Mr Aslam said: “I was very proud to raise money for the Ben Kinsella trust after meeting Ben’s dad and visiting the Trust’s exhibition.

“This was my first ever marathon and I started running in January and at the start, it was hard to juggle training with my shift pattern.

“All my training had been in cooler conditions than we saw on Sunday but it was just a case of drinking lots of water and making sure I didn’t get dehydrated. “

A total of 112 LAS staff were on duty at the marathon, working with 1,200 volunteer first aiders from St John Ambulance, to provide medical help to athletes, fundraisers and spectators.

The LAS receives guaranteed entry places every year for the marathon in recognition of the medical support provided for the event.

Ann Radmore, chief executive of LAS, said: “I am very proud of the Service’s staff who trained hard for months in order to take part in the marathon and managed to raise more than £10,000 for the Ben Kinsella Trust.

“I’d also like to thank the Service responders and St John volunteer first aiders who helped make the day safe for runners and spectators.

“The Service voted to fundraise for the Ben Kinsella Trust in February and our staff have seen first hand the consequences of knife crime and we are proud to support a charity doing such important work in the capital.”