Britain’s knife crime at highest level in a DECADE as blade offences soar in UK
KNIFE crime has rocketed to record levels, shocking new statistics show.
The number of people cautioned or convicted for carrying knives in England and Wales surged to its highest number in a decade, when figures were first compiled in 2009.
In total, there were 22,286 knife and offensive weapon offences in England and Wales in the year ending September 2019.
The number is up 3 per cent on the previous year and the highest since September, 2009, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show.
In England and Wales, 14,135 knife-possession offences were handled by cops and the courts.
The horrifying revelation comes after London suffered its bloodiest year in more than a decade, with 149 murders in the capital in 2019.
Ninety of last year's victims were fatally stabbed, with London's murder rate soaring by 50 per cent in just five years.
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Metropolitan Police boss Cressida Dick has vowed tackling violent crime is her force's 'number one priority'.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to end 'the scourge of 'county lines' gangs as he ordered a new government crackdown on criminal gangs that are 'killing young kids'.
Mr Johnson - who has promised to put 20,000 new cops on Britain's streets - told ministers each department should consider itself a criminal justice department to battle "complex causes of crime".
Following today's MoJ figures, a spokesman for the PM said the government is taking "urgent action" to tackle knife crime.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "These figures should serve as a stark warning to those carrying knives that you are more likely to be jailed, and for longer, than at any point in the last decade."
According to today's latest MoJ figures, offenders are now more likely to be jailed for knife offences, and for longer.
In the year to September, 38 per cent of knife and offensive weapon offences resulted in an immediate custodial sentence compared with 23 per cent in 2009.
KNIFE CRIME SCOURGE
- There were 22,286 knife and offensive weapon offences in England and Wales in the year to 2019
- More than 14,135 knife-possession offences were recorded by courts and cops
- For 71 per cent of offenders it was the first knife possession offence
- Some 38 per cent of knife offenders were jailed immediately - up from 23 per cent in 2009
- The average length of sentences is now 8.1 months, up from 6 months in 2009
- London's murder rate soared to 149 last year, the highest in a decade
- Ninety of the victims in the capital in 2019 were fatally stabbed
- Boris Johnson has pledged 20,000 new police officers to battle crime
Jail terms have also become tougher, with the average length of a prison sentence now 8.1 months, up from 6 months in 2009.
For 71 per cent of knife crime offenders it was their first crime of this kind.
Earlier this month, a Deliveroo driver was stabbed to death in North London in the first murder in the capital in 2020.
Takieddine "Taki" Boudhane, 30, who also carried out deliveries for Uber Eats, was on his moped when he was attacked at around 7pm.
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Last month, the body of Arber Fesko, 30, an Albanian national, was found in the boot of car in Barnet, North London after he had been stabbed to death.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as stab wounds to the neck and chest.
Cops believe he was one victim in a double killing which saw another man found stabbed to death in Hertfordshire and two men charged with murder.
