UK knife death toll hits 100 this year with around two victims killed every three days
Almost half were under 30 with the youngest victim being 14
BRITAIN’S knife crime death toll has hit 100 this year - with around two people being stabbed to death every third day.
Almost half the victims were under 30 and the oldest victim was aged 80 as the grim total stayed at almost the same level as last year’s record-breaking number.
The Government was last night urged to act to bring an end to the “knife crime crisis” which police chiefs recently vowed they are getting to grips with.
More than eight out of ten of this year’s century of knife homicides were male and around a third of victims were stabbed to death in London.
Ten knife murders occurred in Manchester and eight in the West Midlands as urban areas were highlighted as hotspots of deadly violence with blades.
Devoted dad John Lewis, 32, became the UK’s 100th knife murder victim on Tuesday this week when he died at an address in Middlesborough, Teeside.
The first victim was 33-year-old mother Charlotte Huggins, found stabbed to death at an address in Camberwell, South London, at 4.20am on New Year’s Day.
Her death was followed 40 minutes later by Romanian doorman Tudor Simionov, 33, when thugs stormed a private party in Mayfair, Central London.
Computer programmer Lee Pomeroy, 51, was fatally stabbed in front of his 14-year-old son on a Guildford to London train on January 4.
It’s vital that we act now, so we don’t condemn future generations to live in an endless spiral of violence
Javed Khan, chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s
And four days later 14-year-old Jaden Moodie - a self-proclaimed drug runner - was knocked off a moped and stabbed to death in Leyton, East London.
The year’s oldest knife victim, great-grandmother Barbara Heywood, 80, was stabbed to death at her Bolton home on March 27.
So far, there has been one fatal stabbing every 1.45 days in England Wales during 2019.
If the current rate continues, this year’s total would be just under the 285 stabbing deaths in 2017-18 - the highest number since records began in 1946.
Javed Khan, chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said:“This shocking milestone confirms we are living through a knife crime crisis, with nearly half of victims under 30.
“It’s vital that we act now, so we don’t condemn future generations to live in an endless spiral of violence.”
Mr Khan added: “Part of this crisis is down to criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable children to traffic drugs and carry knives.
“Children are children. They are not born with knives in their hands, but when there is little or no possibility of a positive future – what we call a ‘poverty of hope’ – they are highly vulnerable to exploitation and criminality.
“Government needs to work with urgency and in partnership with children’s services, educationalists, charities, social workers, youth workers, the criminal justice system and local communities to tackle this crisis.”
Last month, Met Police commissioner Cressida Dick hailed a reduction of stabbing of under-25’s in the capital, which went down by almost a third during the three months up to the end of November last year.
She said increased stop and searches were having a dramatic impact.
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