Category Archives: Knife crime

Young people buying large knives on Telegram and TikTok, police say

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Commander says authorities scrambling to keep up with supply trends as knife crimes rise

Young people are using sites such as Telegram and TikTok to buy large knives for use in attacks and intimidation, with some linked to Britain’s drug wars, police said.

Stephen Clayman, national lead for knife crime for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, made it clear on Tuesday that police want tougher action after a 7% year-on-year rise in knife offences, with a 20% rise in knife-point robberies.

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Policing minister calls for officers to conduct more stop and searches

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Chris Philp says police should not ‘tiptoe around using these powers in an aim to appease’ despite concerns over racial bias

Police officers must carry out more stop and searches to address knife crime as the tactic is “not used nearly often enough”, according to the policing minister.

Chris Philp said that police forces cannot afford to “tiptoe around using these powers in an aim to appease”.

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‘It’s on our doorstep’: Bristol’s fearful parents seek answers after three knife deaths in three weeks

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As teenage victims are mourned across the English city, some believe the return of youth centres would keep children safer

Terre Baptiste has been checking her teenage son’s whereabouts compulsively since a 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed two weeks ago in a park a mile away from their home in the east of Bristol.

“It is very worrying,” says Baptiste, in her living room. “Bristol isn’t a perfect city. But there weren’t stabbings one after the other. It was few and far between. Now it is on our doorstep.”

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Family of Brianna Ghey murderer apologise and pay tribute to mother

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Scarlett Jenkinson’s relatives thank Esther Ghey for ‘incredible selflessness and empathy towards our family’

The family of Scarlett Jenkinson, who was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years for the murder of Brianna Ghey, have said they are “truly sorry” for the teenage killer’s “brutal” actions and paid tribute to Brianna’s mother.

Jenkinson, described by the judge as the “driving force” behind the murder, was sentenced on Friday for what the Crown Prosecution Service said was “one of the most disturbing cases” its lawyers had ever dealt with. Her accomplice, Eddie Ratcliffe, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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Brianna Ghey’s teenage murderers named ahead of sentencing

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Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16, killed trans schoolgirl after developing ‘warped’ obsession with torture

Two teenagers who murdered Brianna Ghey have been named for the first time before sentencing.

Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 16 and described by police as “really intelligent kids”, can now be named as the killers after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.

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Nicola Sturgeon regarded Boris Johnson as ‘a clown’ because of his handling of Covid, inquiry learns – UK politics live

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Former Scotland first minister used expletives in private messages about former UK PM’s handling of pandemic

At the Covid inquiry hearing in Edinburgh Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, was asked about her wanting a row with the UK government. (See 11.35am.)

Asked if she was looking for a spat, Lloyd replied:

I was looking for a spat with a purpose.

It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.

Sturgeon said his address was “fucking excruciating” and that the UK communications were “awful”. Sturgeon also told Lloyd: “His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.”

Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere. Sturgeon replied: “He is a fucking clown.”

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Idris Elba calls for immediate ban on machetes and ‘zombie’ knives

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Actor and musician also calls for more funding for youth services as part of campaign to end youth knife violence

Idris Elba has called for more urgent action on youth knife violence – including the immediate banning of machetes and “zombie” knives, and more funding for youth services – saying the time for excuses and delays is over.

Speaking to the Guardian on Monday, the star of Luther and The Wire said society was capable of coming together to solve the problem, adding that experts in youth services and bereaved families needed to be able to sit in the same room as politicians and the police, among others, to achieve that.

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Teenagers guilty of ‘senseless’ murder of transgender girl Brianna Ghey

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Murder-obsessed 16-year-olds convicted of killing girl who was stabbed 28 times in Warrington park

Two 16-year-olds have been found guilty of the “senseless” murder of Brianna Ghey, a “witty, funny and fearless” transgender girl who was stabbed 28 times in a Warrington park this year.

The murder-obsessed teenagers, known as Girl X and Boy Y to protect their identities, were found guilty unanimously by a jury at Manchester crown court on Wednesday after it deliberated for four hours and 40 minutes.

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Man jailed for life for attempted murder of US woman stationed at GCHQ

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Joshua Bowles, 29, carried out reconnaissance before stabbing victim in Cheltenham in March

A former UK intelligence worker has been jailed for life for attempting to murder an American woman who worked for the US government’s National Security Agency and was stationed at GCHQ in Gloucestershire.

Joshua Bowles punched and stabbed the woman at a leisure centre 3 miles from the UK intelligence, security and cyber-agency’s Cheltenham base after researching the woman and carrying out surveillance of her.

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Martial arts enthusiast who stabbed partner to death in London jailed for life

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Jason Bell, 42, must serve minimum term of 22 years after he murdered Nicole Hurley, 37, and then held a friend captive

A martial arts enthusiast has been jailed for life after stabbing his partner to death before holding captive a friend he believed to be her lover.

Jason Bell, 42, attacked Nicole Hurley, 37, with at least two knives at their home in Primrose Hill, north-west London, in the early hours of 10 October 2021.

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Labour will set up ‘young futures’ youth programme to tackle knife crime

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Yvette Cooper will announce scheme that will also offer mental health support

Yvette Cooper will set up a £100m “tough love” youth programme to help tackle a knife crime epidemic and a mental health crisis among UK teenagers if Labour is elected, she will announce.

On Tuesday, the shadow home secretary will tell the Labour party conference in Liverpool that the “young futures” programme will target 92 communities under a Keir Starmer-led government that are blighted by youth crime and violence.

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Fifteen-year-old boy and man, 23, killed in north London stabbing

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Another man aged 28 has stab wound not thought to be life-threatening after incident in Archway

A 15-year-old boy and a 23-year-old man have been stabbed to death in north London.

The teenager died at the scene in Elthorne Road, Archway, after the stabbing at 11.30pm on Thursday, while the man was taken to hospital where he was later pronounced dead. A 28-year-old man was found with a stab wound that was not life-threatening.

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MPs voting on report that found Boris Johnson misled parliament – UK politics live

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Theresa May says parliament must punish MPs who break rules as Penny Mordaunt says Johnson ‘undermined democratic process’

At the Labour event Keir Starmer is now speaking. He starts with a jibe at the SNP, saying the tide is turning in Scotland.

Turning to energy policy, he says Labour wants to promote security.

Can we still achieve great things? Can we unite and move forward? Can we still change, can we grow, can we get things done, can we build things? New industries, new technologies, new jobs; will they come to our shores, or will the future pass us by?

You can put it even more starkly. Around the world people want to know, are we still a great nation? If the question is about the British people, the answer is emphatically: yes.

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Boy, 16, stabbed to death at Bath birthday party named as Mikey Roynon

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Mikey, who died after suffering a stab wound at a house party in Weston, was described as ‘a kind, loving and thoughtful soul’

A boy who was killed during a birthday party in a suburb of Bath has been named as 16-year-old aspiring rapper Mikey Roynon and described as “a kind loving and thoughtful soul”.

Mikey suffered a single stab wound apparently after deciding to attend the party at a house in Weston after seeing images of the event on social media.

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Teenager stabbed to death leaving school in east London

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Headteacher of Kelmscott school in Walthamstow says killing of 16-year-old was ‘darkest of days’

A 16-year-old boy was ambushed as he left a school in east London and stabbed to death on Friday in a “senseless attack”.

The pupil at Kelmscott school, Walthamstow, was met outside by his attackers who were “waiting for him”, an eyewitness said. He tried to escape but was stabbed a short distance away outside an auto parts store as other pupils watched.

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Man dies after Boxing Day stabbing at Birmingham nightclub

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Police launch murder inquiry after 23-year-old man was stabbed at Crane nightclub in Digbeth

Police have launched a murder investigation after a 23-year-old man was stabbed on the dancefloor of a nightclub in Birmingham on Boxing Day.

West Midlands police said they were called to Crane nightclub in Digbeth just before 11.45pm on Monday after reports that a man had been stabbed. Despite efforts to save him, the man was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

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Eight teenage girls charged with murder in Toronto stabbing death

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The suspects – ages 13 to 16 – were said to have met via social media before gathering downtown and allegedly ‘swarming’ victim

Eight teenage girls who appear to have met on social media have been charged with second-degree murder over the death of a 59-year-old man who was stabbed in downtown Toronto.

Police allege that the girls assaulted and stabbed the man at a plaza near the main rail station in Canada’s largest city early on Sunday morning. Three of the girls are 13, three are 14 and two are 16, police said on Tuesday.

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Idaho student killings: father of victim feels ‘defeated’ over lack of arrests

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‘I have to hope this is all part of their plan,’ says Steve Goncalves, whose daughter, Kaylee, was one of four victims stabbed to death

The lack of any arrests in the killings of four University of Idaho students and relatively infrequent updates from police have left the father of one of the victims feeling “a little defeated”.

In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Steve Goncalves also said his family had held off burying his daughter, Kaylee Goncalves, who was stabbed to death with three schoolmates in an off-campus home in a crime that horrified the nation, because they fear the unidentified killer or killers might show up as false mourners.

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