Almost 500 knives have been seized from people in London’s primary family court in just a four-month period, according to the President of the Family Division.
Another 230 knives were reported to have been found in areas in or around the court — presumably so their owners could avoid having them confiscated. This means an average of nearly 6 knives every single day were found by the court.
Mr McFarlane said in a speech at Gray’s Inn that “it simply seems to be a facet of everyday life in 2019 for some members of the population to carry a weapon with them at all times”.
His comments come as London is in the grip of a sharp rise in violent crime, particularly involving knives. Knife crime in the capital reached a record high in 2018, rising 15 per cent to reach 14,987 offences in total an average of 41 incidents every single day and representing 38 per cent of all knife crime across England and Wales.
Despite the rise, London mayor Sadiq Khan has allocated minimal resources to police, and at the same time encouraged them to focus on so-called “hate” incidents. He has also reportedly spent millions on environmental projects such as
London is not the only part of the country suffering from a surge in knife crime, however. An average of 112 knife-related incidents a day are reported to take place across England and Wales.
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