How and why knife crime is rising in England and Wales

Armed robberies are helping to fuel an increase in knife crime across England and Wales, the latest figures show.

- ALEX ROSS

The number of knife crime offences hit a post-Covid high in 2024, with 54,587 incidents recorded by police forces. That figure was 2 per cent higher than 2023, but slightly lower than 55,170 in the pre-Covid year ending March 2020.

A key factor in the rise was the increase in police-recorded robberies involving a knife or sharp instrument, which rose 5 per cent to 23,304 in 2024. Offences include the knifepoint thefts of mobile phones and armed robberies in shops.

The figures come ahead of National Knife Crime Awareness Week, which begins tomorrow, when police forces, councils and campaign groups come together to share stories on the impact of knife crime and celebrate the achievements in tackling it.

Last year, home secretary Yvette Cooper set a target to halve the number of knife offences in a decade. In March, she announced new measures to make retailers report suspicious sales to police, and pledged to increase the jail sentence for selling weapons to children. But the latest crime figures show the enormity of the task faced, with almost a third of all robberies now involving a knife.