Reform UK leader Richard Tice has hit out at the Conservatives after new data revealed four in ten repeat knife offenders avoid jail time, despite knife crime deaths hitting a 76-year high. The seasoned Brexit campaigner told Express.co.uk that the “Tories are soft on crime and causes of crime and people are dying as a result”, adding: “They have allowed woke police and soft sentencing which has failed us all.”
The latest figures reveals that more than 4,000 over-16s faced trial for repeated knife possession in the year to September 2022. However only 2,502, which is approximately sixty per cent, received an immediate custodial sentence.
In response to the startling statistics, Mr Tice said: “Any single knife offence should result in jail, no concessions whatsoever.”
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed that nearly 300 acts of murder or manslaughter were committed using a blade or other sharp instrument, during the year to March 2022.
Despite record knife crime related deaths, the number of knife offenders sent to prison is the lowest it’s been for seven years.
Patrick Green, who’s chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust, an anti-knife crime charity, told PA: “As we emerged from Covid restrictions and those restrictions were lifted, we were seeing more evidence of young people made more vulnerable by Covid.
“Gangs are particularly good at picking up on vulnerabilities, are quick to pick them up and indeed lure young people and exploit them in criminal acts. We think there could be a link there.”
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A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are determined to tackle knife crime and every knife taken off our streets is a potential life saved. Since 2019, 90,000 knives and offensive weapons have been removed from our streets through stop and search, surrender initiatives and other targeted police action.
“Over 136,000 violent offences have been prevented and more than 215,000 vulnerable young people have been supported through our Violence Reduction Units and Hotspot policing.”
“While murder rates in the UK are comparatively low, we are committed to preventing as many homicides as we can by confronting the main drivers. This includes our plan to transform society’s response to tackling domestic abuse, reducing both the demand for, and supply of, illicit drugs, and providing £130 million to prevent serious violence through our network of Violence Reduction Units.”
