264 lives lost as

CAMPAIGNERS declared that “enough is enough” yesterday as the full horror of Britain’s knife crime crisis was laid bare.

Shock figures show crimes with deadly blades soared to record levels last year – nearly 40,000 offences which led to 264 deaths.

Knife crimes recorded across the country rose by nearly a quarter over 12 months and have rocketed by 55 per cent since March 2014. In the last four years 864 people have lost their lives.

Last night campaigners joined victims’ families to demand tougher jail sentences.

The statistics were released just days after a Daily Express investigation revealed knives are being sold illegally to children as young as 14 in leading high street chains and supermarkets.

London’s murder rate rocketed 44 per cent to 157 and nine per cent across the country. Gun crime was up by 11 per cent over the past year, robberies increased 33 per cent and rape 31 per cent, to more than 50,000 offences.

In total, police recorded 5.4 million offences, a 13 per cent yearon-year rise.

As the terrifying statistics were revealed, ministers, police chiefs and MPs met as part of a new crime task force chaired by Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

Increase

But law and order campaigner Norman Brennan said: “It’s an Elastoplast over gaping wounds.”

Office for National Statistics data showed forces in England and Wales logged 39,598 offences involving a knife or sharp instrument in 2017 – a 22 per cent increase compared with the previous year. The number of murders using a blade was up from 209 in the previous year – a rise of 26 per cent.

There were 385 attempted murders, 16,229 robberies, 448 rapes and 191 sexual assaults. The majority of knife crimes were assaults, which totalled 19,213.

Almost every police force saw an increase in knife crime offences and possession of a knife was up by around a third.

Danny O’Brien, of the AntiKnife UK group, said: “We still see judges giving offenders another chance time and time again. How many chances do you need?”

Michelle McPhillips, whose son Jonathan, 28, was stabbed to death in north London last year, said: “Look how quickly they’ve put the sentencing up for acid, so why won’t they do it for knives?”

Former Met Police chief Lord Hogan-Howe said: “If you carry a gun you will go to prison for five years minimum. If you carry a knife, on second conviction you will go to prison for six months and will probably only serve a couple of months. I don’t think that’s a strong enough signal for what is killing people.”

Police minister Nick Hurd said: “We know some of the increase in police-recorded violent offences is genuine, which is why we have taken urgent action.”

Sarah Jones, chairwoman of the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime, said the figures were a “damning indictment of a government which has been promising to get a grip on knife crime since last summer”.

Police Federation chairman Calum Macleod said: “Since 2009, police have lost over 21,000 officers, the majority of which come from neighbourhood and frontline policing who are the eyes and ears of our communities. How much is it going to take for the