Cambridgeshire sees 221 cases of criminals sentenced or cautioned for knife crimes in last year

The shocking statistics reveal that knife crime has not gone away, despite the number of arrests, with concerns raised in political circles nationally about the spiralling numbers of attacks reported on city streets each day over the last few years.

Knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust said it was a relief to see the numbers drop slightly across England and Wales. But Patrick Green, chief executive of the Trust, added: “We need to remember that these figures show that knife crime is still 53 per cent higher than it was in 2014.

“So sadly, knife crime has not gone away and we need to maintain the focus in tackling and preventing this heinous crime.”

Ministry of Justice figures show 221 knife and offensive weapon crimes resulted in a caution or sentence in Cambridgeshire in the year to March – though this was a decrease of nearly one fifth (18 per cent) on the year before.

This means there were 30 offences per 100,000 people in the area, down from 36 the year before.

The figure includes possession of, or threatening with, a knife or other offensive weapon, but do not include all offences, such as murder or assault. Of these crimes in the region, 32 per cent of offenders went straight to prison.

Officers across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire joined others across the country in March in a week-long operation to tackle a rise in knife crime.

The aim was to take weapons off the streets and tackle associated crimes, and included a ‘knife surrender’ where members of the public could hand in knives without fear of prosecution.

Offences involving possession of a knife in the county rose by 10 per cent in 2019/20 compared to figures from the previous year.

In Peterborough, there was a nine per cent rise.

Across England and Wales, an estimated 21,325 knife and offensive weapon crimes resulted in a caution or sentence in the 12 months to March.

This was four per cent fewer than the year before, but was still the third-highest annual figure since current records began in 2010.

The figures cover just to the start of the coronavirus lockdown, but the MoJ said any impact on the data from the pandemic was likely to be small.

The figures show around 38 per cent of offenders in England and Wales received an immediate custodial sentence – the average of which rose to 7.9 months in the year to March, compared to 7.7 before.

Adults and juveniles cautioned or sentenced are increasingly likely to be repeat offenders, with the proportion of first-time offenders dropping from 80 per cent in the year ending March 2010 to 71 per cent in the latest figures.

The MoJ said sentencing remains a matter for independent judges, but that threatening and repeat possession offenders should expect to go to prison.

Justice minister Chris Philp said: “Knife crime is a devastating blight on too many communities and this government is determined to do everything it can to make our streets safer.

“We are recruiting 20,000 more police officers, making it easier to use stop and search and ensuring the most violent offenders spend longer behind bars.”