Counties stabbings overtake big cities

THE knife crime epidemic has spread to the Home Counties with stabbings doubling in three years.

Latest figures reveal that someone is now more likely to be stabbed in Bedfordshire than Manchester or Merseyside.

Knife crime rates in counties including Hertfordshire, Warwickshire and Norfolk have soared by more than 100% since 2015. But London’s has only increased by 20%.

The epidemic is being fuelled by big city gangs expanding their reach into rural areas sparking a war with local gangs, whose members often carry knives and acid to defend themselves. Children are often exploited to transport drugs to the rural areas.

Norfolk has seen a 274% increase in knife crime, while Warwickshire’s rates have risen by 180%.

The rates in Hertfordshire have surged by 150%, and

134% in north Wales.

Vince O’Brien, head of drugs operations at the

National Crime Agency, said: “There is an increasing level of violence coming from city gangs establishing themselves in new drugs markets in rural areas.

“Counties which surround

London are being affected.”

Andy Higgins, research director for the Police Foundation think tank, said: “Although the highest volume of knife crime is in London, some of the largest increases in recent years have been in the county forces.

“The county lines phenomena – organised crime groups exploiting vulnerable young people to supply drugs in smaller towns – is known to be associated with serious violence.”

The fresh Home Office figures show the share of murders where the victim or suspect was linked to drugs had risen by 50% to 57%.

Meanwhile a teenage boy has been arrested after police found a machete stashed nearby.

The weapon was seized by officers called to a fight in Camden, north London.

And Camden Police officers tweeted: “Following a call to persons fighting with knives in Somerstown, #SectorTeam found this knife stashed near a juvenile male.”

The Star Says: Page 6