Number of stab deaths rockets to record high

A RECORD number of people were stabbed to death last year, with more murders linked to drugs.

- Michael Knowles

Official statistics show 282 people, including 69 teenagers, died as a result of a knife attack,

It is a 19 per cent rise on the previous year and the highest annual total since records began in 1946.

Three in four teenagers killed last year were stabbed, prompting renewed calls “to get a better grip on youth violence”.

Patrols

Campaigners have warned the number of 16 and 17-year-olds killed with a knife has more than doubled from 10 to 24.

In total, 696 people were killed in the year to March, the second highest total in 10 years.

Over half of murder or manslaughter cases were linked to drugs, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.