THE father of a 25-year-old who died after being beaten up has vowed to take the battle against violence to the streets.

Mark Jennings, whose son Tim died in Cirencester earlier this month, said he would stop at nothing to prevent other families suffering as his has.

The Bibury resident promised to unite parents and patrol Cirencester to ensure their children could feel safe.

He was speaking as he joined a team of special constables on a patrol of the town on Friday night.

He said: "I am not going to go away. I want the parents to come out with me and make a stand against this.

"We need to do something to stop anything like this happening again and let people know we want our streets to be safe.

"I am not against the police. It is the Government I blame. There should be more police out on the streets and the only reason there isn't is because they don't put enough money into it.

"We should take their expenses and use them to pay police wages. I want to work with the police and to co-operate so we can take action together.

"But if I have to do it alone, I will."

Tim, who was known as Timbo to his friends and family, was left in a critical condition after being attacked in Marketplace in the early hours of June 27. He died less than week later in Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, after failing to recover from surgery.

Two 18-year-old men from Cirencester have since appeared in court charged with manslaughter, but Mark said the outcome of any court case could not make up for the loss of his son.

He said: "It doesn't matter what sentence anyone gets. It is us who have the life sentence.

"We have to live without Tim for the rest of our lives.

"I miss him so much. I keep thinking about how I behaved towards him. I wanted him to do so well and I was horrible to him because of it. I pushed him and I was horrible to him for all the right reasons, but now I can never say sorry."

On Friday, a team of special constables volunteered to patrol Cirencester to prevent alcohol-fuelled violence and test clubbers for drugs.

Assistant Divisional Officer Steve Lindsay, who led the operation, said they were doing all they could to clean up the streets.

He said: "We of course have the deepest sympathy for Mark's situation and want to do everything we can to help. We have been conducting regular patrols and we will be doing more of that in the future. It is important to us."