Highest knife crime rates in five years across West Midlands revealed

A Freedom of Information request has shown there were 241 knife crime incidents between January and September this year – more than in the whole of 2015.

The 2016 figures have already surpassed the previous year's total and show a 35 per cent increase compared to 2012.

In 2011, some 217 incidents were reported, which dropped to 157 in 2012. These figures have continued to increase, however, with 168 incidents reported in 2013, 175 in 2014 and 220 in 2015.

Supt Phil Dolby said: "One knife-related crime is one too many. As we've seen in the last few months, the consequences of carrying knives can be catastrophic.

"We've seen people suffer very serious injuries, while offenders can expect to spend many years behind bars.

"If we look at the level of knife crime across the area we can see that although the statistics have increased recently, mirroring the national picture, it comes in the wider context of a considerable decline over the last decade.

"Nevertheless, there is still much work to do." The knife crime statistics released do not reveal how many crimes were reported in October, when the Black Country was rocked by an unprecedented spate of attacks.

At least eight cases were reported in the area during that month alone, including the stabbing of 24-year-old Mansoor Mahmood in Brierley Hill High Street, who died of his injuries in hospital and whose killer remains at large.

Police are continuing to hunt suspect Niron Parker-Lee, with a £2,000 reward from Crimestoppers on offer for information on his whereabouts.

Other serious cases included an 18 year old who was left in a critical condition after being stabbed in the stomach on Sedgley High Street.

On October 30, in Brownhills, a father and son were seriously injured after being stabbed while their suspected attacker allegedly tried to rob a shop and then crashed a stolen car into an ambulance.

Mircea Gheorghe Cozmiuc, 23, was found in Carter Road, Whitmore Reans with multiple stab wounds in September and later died. The spate of attacks prompted West Midlands PCC David Jamieson to ask the force's Chief Constable Dave Thompson to outline the steps the force was taking to tackle knife crime following what he described as 'considerable concern' in the wake of the recent incidents.

Mr Jamieson has set up a commission to look at gangs and violence to tackle the root causes of knife crime.

Supt Dolby said the force is working hard to tackle the problem through a combination of enforcement action and education.

He told the Express & Star: "We are carrying out enforcement operations, reminding retailers of their legal responsibilities around selling knives and carrying out talks in schools and colleges.

"The people we find most often in possession of a knife in public are young men aged between 15 and 19.

"A common excuse we hear is that it's 'for their protection' but that is a total fallacy and it's shocking how many times young men are seriously hurt by the very knife they are carrying.

"That's why we are working to deter young people from carrying knives through our Precious Lives project.

"Tens of thousands of school pupils have now seen the hard-hitting presentation which is designed to steer them away from knife crime and 'deglamourise' gang culture." It is illegal to carry any knife, other than a small folding pocket knife, in public.

Anyone found carrying a knife in public, irrespective of whether they used it in anger, faces up to four years in jail.