A strongman is to take on a mammoth challenge in memory of his friend who was stabbed to death.

Chatham’s Rocky Troiani was inspired to raise awareness of knife crime after 57-year-old Simon Jones was found fatally injured in a car park in Derby on April 20.

The 48-year-old, who has completed similar feats of strength for charity in the past, will attempt to pull a 50-ton truck against former World Strongest Man competitor Terry Hollands.

The event will be held at Evolution Gym in Aylesford on Saturday, July 7, and the money raised will go to Mr Jones’s family.

Mr Troiani will be joined by TV stars Heavy D from Storage Hunters and Wayne Gordon, also known as “Doom” from Gladiators.

The Luton Road resident said: “I think it brings it all home when someone you know gets stabbed. When I was a young man, we had youth centres. There’s got to be ways around this.

“He (Simon) was an innocent man who served in the forces.”

Mr Troiani is hoping to visit schools to speak about knife crime in the future. Daily, people are getting stabbed and kids are carrying knives. There’s nothing for kids to do at the moment.

“You need to get through to the younger generation. There’s never going to be a stop to gang culture, there’s groups of kids hanging around and they think it’s cool to carry a knife.”

Last year, Mr Troiani got himself into the Guinness World Records by pulling a bus 20 metres in 29.4 seconds.

In that attempt, he raised £4,000 for Tee-Jay Teirney, two, of Eva Road, Gillingham, who was born with a rare disorder known as GM1 gangliosidosis, which destroys nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

The strongman knew Mr Jones through their work for good causes. He said: “I knew Simon through the charity circle, all the events I have done, he always supported them.

“He was always a very supportive guy when it came to charities, whatever it was, he was very supportive, just one of life’s nice people.”

The 57-year-old was stabbed in what is understood to be a dispute over keys to his van.

The bailiff, who lived in Belper, Derbyshire, died after being taken to a nearby hospital.

He left behind four grandchildren and a fiancée. Three men have since been charged with murder and robbery.