Renewed calls for tougher sentences for knife crimes

Crime figures published by the Office for National Statistics show here were 46,265 offences in the 12 months to the end of March this year, up from 43,706 in the previous the previous year and the highest on record.

The data shows that every police force in England and Wales has seen a rise in knife-related offences since 2010, with offences doubling in a third of forces.

In Merseyside, knife-related offences have seen a huge increase in the past decade, from 594 in 2010 to 1,424 in 2019-20 – an increase of 140 per cent.

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Locally, The Daniel Fox Foundation been on a mission to raise awareness of knife crime.

The charity was set up by the family of Daniel Fox, a 29-year-old man from Thatto Heath who died in 2016 after being stabbed in St Helens town centre.

Part of the foundation’s work has involved educating school children about the devastating impacts that can come from carrying a knife.

The foundation launched the #NoMoreKnives campaign in 2017 and is currently lobbying Westminster for a change in the law to make sentences for knife possession the same as for carrying a firearm.

The most notable year-on-year rise in knife crime in Merseyside happened between 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, which saw 945 offences jump to 1,404.

There was a marginal increase in 2019-2020, rising to 1,424.

Nonetheless, it was still a rise and is the highest number of knife-related offences on record in Merseyside since 2010.

Dawn Jones, Daniel Fox’s aunty, is one of the leading figures behind the Daniel Fox Foundation, and said something needs to be done to put an end to the continued rise in knife crime.

Daniel Fox with his aunty, Dawn Jones

Dawn said: “The Daniel Fox Foundation is committed to reducing knife crime across the borough of St Helens as we know only too well how it devastates families, friends and the community when a loved one is killed or injured by knife crime.

“Rising figures over the past 10 years cannot go on that is why something has to be done to reduce them and make our communities a safer place to live.

“The foundation believe that education is one of the key factors and educating children and young people from an early age is imperative in helping reduce this national epidemic.

“That is why we developed an age appropriate knife crime education programme for primary/high schools, colleges and organisations across the borough.

“Through the programme students learn about the consequences and impacts of knife crime and how to make positive lifestyle choices against carrying a knife or a weapon.

“The foundation have very strong support from St Helens Borough Council and Merseyside Police among others who work tirelessly to combat knife crime and make our communities a safer place.”

Dawn said the foundation feel “extremely strongly” about the need to change the law to make them “fit for purpose”.

She said this is something the charity continues to work on, and reiterated calls on the Government to change the law to bring them in line with firearms.

The ONS figures, which were published in July, show that only five other police force areas in England recorded more knife crime offences than Merseyside, although Greater Manchester Police is not included in the data due to an issue with their data supply.

Shadow Home Office Minister and St Helens North MP Conor McGinn said cuts to the police and preventative services have fuelled the rise in knife crime over the past decade.

Between 2010 and 2019 the Conservative Government cut Merseyside Police’s budget by more than £130 million.

This has seen the force lose more than 1,000 officers.

Other preventative services have also fallen victim to the Government’s austerity agenda.

Mr McGinn, Shadow Minister for Security, said: “Despite the best efforts of our fantastic frontline police officers, and the leadership we have had in Merseyside from the Chief Constable and Police Commissioner on this issue, there were more than 1,400 knife crime incidents in our region last year.

“Shockingly, that is over 800 more than in 2010 and is an increase of 140 per cent in the last decade.

“It is no coincidence that this huge rise in knife crime has happened during the period that the Tories have been in power, with cuts to the police and preventative services having a real impact on our communities.

“The Conservative Government needs to properly resource the police, support initiatives like ‘No More Knives’ here on Merseyside and work with organisations like the St Helens-based Daniel Fox Foundation to fix this national knife crime crisis.”

The Daniel Fox Foundation said they too believe austerity has played a large part in the increases of knife related crimes due to the cuts on policing and other preventative services.

Following analysis of the figures from Labour, Shadow Policing Minister Fire Sarah Jones, said the Government needs to explain how it will fix the knife crime crisis that “was born on their watch.”

Conor McGinn, MP for St Helens North and Shadow Minister for Security

Responding to the claims, Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, accused Labour of trying to politicise the issue.

The Tory Minister said: “As deputy mayor for policing in London I successfully fought the last spike in knife crime which grew under Ken Livingstone as Mayor and a Labour government, so attempts to politicise what is a complex and difficult problem seem cheap and unpleasant to me.

“It would be more helpful if Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party was consistent in their approach to crime and supported what we, and our violence reduction units are doing to confront this challenge.

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“Instead Labour’s opposition to stop and search would deprive the police of a vital tool in their arsenal against knife crime and despite calling for more to be done, Labour have voted against increased police funding.”

“The Conservatives are taking the urgent action needed to tackle knife crime and keep our communities safe – hiring 20,000 additional police officers, investing millions to tackle county lines and locking violent criminals up for longer, as well as doing the long-term work to turn young people away from violence.”