Number of crimes involving large blades and swords has doubled in five years as ban comes into force

23 September 2024, 11:31

Police figures have shown the number of crimes involving large knives, swords and zombie knives has almost doubled in the last five years.

New data revealed by a freedom of information request showed that, in 2023, these three weapons were mentioned in 14,195 crimes recorded by 32 police forces in England and Wales

This compares to 7,159 offences recorded in 2019.

Nearly 10,000 of the offences recorded in 2023 involved machetes, double the number from five years before, the data obtained by the BBC reveals.

On Tuesday a ban on owning zombie-style knives and machetes comes into force, following a four-week amnesty scheme where owners were encouraged to hand the weapons into police, local authorities or knife crime charities.

Read more: 'I'm 15, don't let me die': Teenage boy stabbed to death in south-east London begged bystanders as he bled out in street

This ban comes after extensive campaigning to reduce knife crime, including from Hollywood star Idris Elba.

The Government has shared plans to also ban ninja swords in the future.

Knife crime rose by 7% in England and Wales in the year to December 2023, compared with the previous 12 months.

Despite this, knife crime remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Knife-enabled homicides stood at 239 last year, broadly unchanged on the 235 recorded in 2022 and also lower than pre-pandemic figures.

However, in the year to March 2023, 82% of teenage homicide victims were killed with a knife, compared with 73% in the previous year.

This comes as it was revealed the teenage victim of a fatal stabbing in south-east London told witnesses "I'm 15, don't let me die" as he lay bleeding in the street.

The Met was called to reports of a disturbance on Eglinton Road, Woolwich, at around 6.30pm on Sunday.

The teenage victim was found with a serious stab wound to the leg and died a short time later from the injury.

A 43-year-old woman who witnessed the attack ran to the schoolboy's aid and attempted to stem the bleeding from the wound as he lay injured in the street.

Describing the boy as "laying face down on the floor", the woman, who wishes not to be named, described a "massive pool of blood" forming beneath the boy as she used sheets to stem the bleeding.