LONDON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- A third child died on Tuesday after Monday's knife attack in Southport, northwest England, police have announced. Meanwhile, five other children and two adults remain in critical condition.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Tuesday at the scene of the attack that there is "obviously a deep concern" about knife crime across the country.
The devastating incident in Southport has underlined a noticeable spike in offenses involving knives or sharp instruments in England and Wales over the past decade.
According to data released last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of knife-enabled crimes in the United Kingdom (UK) -- excluding data from Greater Manchester Police -- increased by 89 percent to 50,510 in the year ending March 2024, up from 26,694 in the year ending March 2014. This was despite a brief decline after 2020.
Although still lower than pre-pandemic levels in the year ending March 2020, knife-enabled crime in the year ending March 2024 increased by 4 percent year-on-year.
A "notable increase" of 13 percent was also seen in the year ending March 2024 in the number of robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, compared with the previous year.
Of all recorded homicides in the year March 2024, 43 percent involved the use of a knife or sharp instrument.
The severity of knife crime in the UK has also garnered the attention of the government and political leaders.
Before becoming UK prime minister, Keir Starmer said last month during a meeting with the families of knife crime victims that reducing knife crime would be a "moral mission" for the Labour Party if it won the general election.
In a speech earlier this month, King Charles III outlined the Labour government's law-making plans, including a crime and policing bill aimed at halving serious violence over a decade, with strong action to tackle knife crime.
The bill pledged remove dangerous knives and other weapons from the streets by "banning ninja swords and other lethal blades, and introducing strict sanctions on senior executives of online companies who fail to operate within the law."
However, hopes for a significant reduction in knife crime would be dim, if such political pledges and proposed bills fail to translate into meaningful change.
