Knife crime hits record high after 43,500 offences in the last year
KNIFE crime in England and Wales has soared to a record high with more than 43,500 offences in the past year.
Shocking figures released today by the Office for National Statistics reveal an eight per cent increase on the previous 12 months.
Britain has been battling a knife crime epidemic with fatal stabbings as deaths are at their highest level since the Second World War.
Violent crimes have surged in the capital since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor, with 2018 the bloodiest year in a decade.
The staggering statistics come a day after a report revealed that super-criminals who are caught carrying knives and committing crimes several times are STILL escaping jail.
A review from Onward showed that the of "super prolific offenders" who dodge prison has tripled since 2017.
Nearly 4,000 had more than 50 previous convictions - an average of six in every constituency.
There were 21,484 offences for possessing or making threats with a knife last year - the highest in nearly a decade.
SPIKE IN VIOLENT CRIME
The proportion of crimes being solved has decreased to the lowest level recorded, according to the data.
In the 12 months to the end of March, only 7.8 per cent of offences resulted in someone being charged or summonsed to appear at court.
Mark Bangs from the ONS Centre for Crime and Justice said: “The picture of crime is a complex one.
"Overall levels of crime have remained steady, but this is not the case for all types of crime.
"For example, overall levels of violence have remained steady but we have seen increases in violent crimes involving knives and sharp instruments.
"We have seen increases in fraud and overall theft, but decreases in burglary following recent rises.”
The latest recorded crime figures relate to crimes recorded by the police during the year ending March 2019 (April 2018 to March 2019).
The figures exclude Greater Manchester Police, which is one of the biggest forces in the UK.
Scotland Yard has launched 78 murder investigations so far this year.
Last year was London's bloodiest in a decade - when the number of homicides reached 132.
Earlier figures this year show five young people are attacked with a knife every day in London.
Mr Khan has warned it could take a "decade" to reverse the increasing trend of violent crime.
Met Police Chief Cressida Dick recently supported a reduction in stabbings of under-25s after more stop and searches.
It comes one day after a man was found guilty of stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death during a school run.
Ricardo Godinho, 41, butchered Aliny Mendes, 39, in front of her three-year-old daughter in Ewell, Surrey in February.
Toni Miller, a witness to the horror, told Guildford Crown Court, she heard Mrs Mendes' three-year-old daughter cried out "mummy is not coming back" after the stabbing.
She said Godinho pushed the child towards her as he went for his ex and knifed her "six or seven times".
Last week, a 17-year-old masked killer was jailed for life after stabbing another teen to death when he wasn't allowed in to a Halloween party.
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Michael Thompson, from Huddersfield, murdered of Jamie Brown, 17, after stabbing him in the stomach and damaging major blood vessels.
Thompson had been trying to break into the party in Ovenden with a group of boys who were carrying knives and hammers when he got into an argument with Brown and his friends.
West Yorkshire Police said the case "highlights the devastation of using knives".
Soft justice: smug man, 18, laughs and poses for selfie after dodging prison after 2 knife offences
Kyle Davis, 18, a suspected drug dealer with a history of carrying a blade, dodged jail back in March.
He was given a suspended sentence despite being caught with wraps of cocaine and a lock knife - his second weapons' offence.
He had first been caught carrying a knife at school at the age of 14, for which he received a police caution.
As he left Birmingham Magistrates' Court he laughed and took a boasting selfie on his phone.
Zombie knife maniac was spared jail
A teen maniac who was filmed hitting a car was initially spared jail despite wielding a "zombie knife" in a shocking street attack.
Footage of Joshua Gardner, 18, wildly slashing at a blue VW car that had clipped his bike in May last year went viral.
The driver fled as Gardner smashed a window and tried to rip a door off in Croydon, South London.
He was convicted of attempted GBH at the Old Bailey last year. During his trial, he claimed to carry the knife for self-defence following a ten-day kidnap ordeal.
The court heard how the thug had previously been let off with a community order after demanding a 12-year-old schoolboy’s phone and wallet at knife point in March 2017.
Gardner, a known gang member, was finally caged in January after an appeal judge ruled his suspended sentence was too lenient. He was jailed for three-and-a-half years in January