4 years ..No excuses
Knife victims’ families call for longer sentences Fatal stabbing almost daily as epidemic worsens
FAMILIES who have lost loved ones in the knife crime epidemic today call on Theresa May to toughen up sentences for carrying a blade.
They are demanding the fouryear maximum jail term becomes the minimum.
Somebody was stabbed to death on our streets almost every day last year.
Campaigner Danny O’Brien, founder of Anti Knife UK, backs the call and says this year could be the worst for fatal stabbings.
And he warned knife attacks in Britain are now spreading to rural areas more than he has seen in the past decade. In total, there were 304 people fatally knifed across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland last year, according to research by his charity. So far this year there have been 46, with 16 in London. Police recorded 215 fatal stabbings in the year to March 2017 in England and Wales – 16% more than in 2015. And the Office for National Statistics found 61 of those victims were aged 16 to 24 – the most since 2009. Mr O’Brien said 2017’s 10-year knife murder high could be topped again this
year unless changes are made. And he is shocked by stab attacks in market towns such as Stowmarket in Suffolk.
“We see fatal stabbings in villages you’re more likely to see on Midsomer Murders rather than in real life,” he said.
“We need to look at knife crime more as a UK community issue.
“I get so frustrated when the Prime Minister or whoever just mentions how ‘we’ve lost several teenagers in London’.
“What about the others who have been lost – this is all over the country.”
Mr O’Brien added: “I support the idea if you’re caught for the first time with a knife, there should be a minimum four-year jail sentence.”
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said: “The increase in violent crime is truly shocking and has devastating consequences.
“The truth is that the Tories are failing in a basic duty to protect the public and have cut over 21,000 police officers since 2010.”
Today marks exactly one year since Michelle McPhillips made the decision to turn off son Jonathan’s life support, after he was stabbed in Islington, North London. “The attitude of young people I talk to in workshops is ‘yeah but you’ll only serve 12 months max if you’re caught with a knife’,” said Michelle. “I’m saying change it so four years is the minimum and create a new maximum. “We did it with drink driving. People didn’t take much notice until the punishment was so severe you lost your livelihood. “Theresa May should make the punishment so they think about what they’re actually going to do – a real deterrent. We’re told we’re getting more stop and search but there aren’t officers.” The Home Office said: “Every single death from knife crime is a tragedy and this Government is determined to do everything it can to break the deadly cycle.”