Campaigners' dismay at repeat knife attacks

A HARDCORE of almost 5,000 repeat offenders has accounted for a record proportion of knife crime convictions.

- By Matthew Davis

Figures show last year nearly a third were for attackers coming before the courts for the second, third and fourth times.

This suggests the message to get young people to stop carrying knives has fallen on deaf ears — prompting calls for the Government to bring in tougher sentencing laws without delay.

Nick de Bois, a former Tory MP who campaigned for harsher penalties to act as a deterrent, said: "This failure to incarcerate repeat knife crime offenders is unacceptable judicial complacency. For so long as these thugs face no prospect of jail they will continue to carry and use knives.

"Some of these who already terrorise victims are most likely to go on and kill someone.