Knife crime hits a record high, but prosecutions plummet

KNIFE crime has risen to record levels in England and Wales but only a fifth of offenders are being charged.

The number of knife offences rose 6 per cent last year to 40,829, equivalent to more than 110 a day and the highest level since records began in 2008-09.

Homicides were also up 6.1 per cent to 732, equivalent to more than two a day and their highest level for a decade. Four in 10 of these killings involved a knife or sharp instrument.

However, the number of offenders prosecuted for knife possession has plummeted, with just four in 10 (40.4 per cent) of such crimes resulting in a charge. That is down from more than six in 10 in 2015-16.

In Greater Manchester, the rate of prosecutions has halved in four years with just 22.3 per cent of blade possession offences resulting in a charge, down from 44 per cent just four years ago. Sussex, British Transport Police and South Yorkshire are all below 30 per cent.

This week Ian Hopkins, the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, admitted at least four in 10 of all crimes were not being fully investigated because of a lack of resources.

Simon Kempton, operational policing lead for the Police Federation, which represents 119,000 rank and file officers, said shortages meant police were less likely to get to a crime scene or report of knife possession within the critical “golden hour” when the chances of arrest were at their highest.

“Particularly during peak hours, night time, we are less able to get enough people to these places as we would like, so end up losing witnesses, physical or forensic evidence,” he said. The continued rise in knife crime comes as police chiefs have been given an extra £100million by the Government to reverse the trend in seven of the worst hit areas, including Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire.

Theresa May and Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, held a Downing Street summit earlier to launch plans for a “public health” approach to the crisis, with a legal duty on doctors, teachers

and police to report children at risk of being drawn into knife crime.

Yesterday Mr Javid said he was “very concerned” about the “huge rise” in serious violence including knife crime, adding: “I wish there was one single thing that could be done that would bring it down dramatically. But there’s not one thing. I think we need action on many fronts.”

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that three quarters of the police forces in England and Wales – 31 out of 43 – saw a rise in knife crime in the year to December 2018.

The biggest rise was in Merseyside, where knife offences increased by 35 per cent to 1,231, followed by Dyfedpowys (28 per cent), South Wales (23 per cent), Derbyshire (22 per cent), North Wales and North Yorkshire (21 per cent each), with West Yorkshire, Kent and Gwent all on 20 per cent.

Knife or sharp instrument offences tended to be concentrated in metropolitan areas, with 33 per cent of all such crimes in England and Wales accounted for by London’s 14,660 offences, a rate of 167 per 100,000 of the population.

This was followed by Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and West Midlands (with 129, 118 and 111 offences per 100,000 population respectively).

This compares with an average of 76 offences per 100,000 population in England and Wales. However, there were positive signs of a slowing down in the rate of increase, from 13 per cent to nine per cent in the latest quarter.

In London, where there have been large increases in police stop and searches, there was just a one per cent rise in the latest quarter, down from 15 per cent and eight per cent in previous quarters.

Violent crime in England and Wales was, however, up by 19.1 per cent from 1.35 million offences to 1.6 million, its highest rate for more than a decade.

Robberies recorded by the police were up by 11.3 per cent to 82,600, the highest level since 2008, while overall police recorded crime increased by seven per cent to 5.8million offences, its highest since 2004.

Fewer criminals are, however, being caught, with only 7.8 per cent of offences leading to charges, down from 9.1 per cent in 2017.