Break spiral of violence, urges charity
CAMPAIGNERS have demanded “urgent action” on tackling the scourge of knife crime.
Javed Khan, from children’s charity Barnardo’s, pleaded with the Government to “break the spiral of violence”.
He said: “It’s unacceptable that knife crime continues to destroy so many lives.
“It is a symptom of a much wider problem.
“Too many young people are suffering a ‘poverty of hope’, facing a future with no qualifications, no job prospects, and no role models, making them vulnerable to gangs who force them to deliver drugs and carry knives.
“The Government needs to work with children’s services and local communities.”
Boris Johnson has announced he would lead a new Cabinet committee looking at ways to tackle crime. carrying a knife two years before the killing, was jailed for 19 years.
Latest Ministry of Justice data shows the number of knife crimes resulting in a conviction or caution stands at the highest in a decade.
There were 22,286 knife and offensive weapon offences formally dealt with by the criminal justice system in England and Wales in the year ending September.
This is a three per cent rise on the previous year and the highest since September 2009.
Yvonne successfully fought for new legislation which came into force in 2015 requiring a mandatory sentence of at least six months for anyone caught carrying a knife for the second time.
Assertive
She said: “It makes my blood boil that nothing is being done about the issue of knife crime.”
Policing Minister Kit Malthouse said: “Overall the numbers are extremely concerning. While there has been some reduction in murder and the crime survey shows a flat picture, violent crime is still too high. We are throwing everything we have got at this issue, recruiting 20,000 more officers and taking a smarter, more assertive approach to fighting crime. We all have to work together to win this fight and we won’t stop until we do.”
“BRITAIN’S hardest cop” has told how he survived a ferocious machete onslaught as his assailant was convicted of the attack.
PC Stuart Outten was struck six times on the head with a 2ftlong blade after he stopped Muhammad Rodwan’s van for having no insurance.
As Rodwan “came in for the kill” the Met Police officer Tasered him twice, the Old Bailey heard.
The 29-year-old PC said he was “very lucky” to survive.
He said: “I recall specifically as I was falling to the floor, having fired the first shot and aiming for the second, thinking that if this doesn’t work, this might be it.
“But luckily the Taser worked. He fell incapacitated next to me and I was able to use it to keep him on the floor and keep myself alive.” Bleeding heavily and with broken fingers, he shouted at a passerby to pass his radio so he could call for help after the attack in Leyton, east London, on the evening of August 7 last year.
Rodwan, 56, told officers he
Mobile phone footage shows PC Stuart Outten as he was attacked with the 2ft machete, left. Above and right, gashes he sustained in the onslaught acted in self-defence, saying: “My life is worth more than his life.”
But police body worn video showed him punching the officer before grabbing the weapon as PC Outten tried to arrest him.
A jury deliberated for seven hours to find Rodwan guilty of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
He was cleared of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
Rodwan, who told officers he slept in his van around Waltham Forest, said he had the machete in his van for his gardening work.
Dismissing his “hardest cop” title, PC Outten said: “Luckily I have the size and build that I can take a couple of machete blows to the head.”
In a victim impact statement read to court, he said: “This incident has changed my life but I hope it has not changed the way I police.” Rodwan made no reaction as the verdicts were delivered. Mrs Justice Carr adjourned sentencing until this morning.
Following the verdicts, Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Tucker paid tribute to PC Outten, saying: “I’m very, very proud of Stuart. He did an amazing job to apprehend that individual.”
Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said he was “saddened” that the jury acquitted Rodwan of attempted murder.
He said had the PC not used his Taser the attack “would have been fatal”.
Rodwan, then known as Rodney Reid, was previously jailed for nine years for attacking two men with a machete in 1996 and was sentenced to three years for rape in 1983.