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Knives are now seen as 'accessories' by young people, with kids as young as eight taking blades to school

Knives are being used as
Knives are being used as

Knives are being taken into schools by children as young as eight as the weapons are now viewed as an “accessory” similar to smartphones, a senior police officer has said.

Young people who carry blades told Anthony Peltier, Assistant Chief Officer of the Metropolitan police, they do it because it’s “the thing you do”.

“It's become like an accessory which is worrying,” he said. “Young people they ‘show off their blade’ as they put it.”

His comments come as a mother of a 13-year-old boy from Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, who was slashed with a stanley knife during a playground fight, said: “It’s about time any crime involving knives is dealt with severely.”

Her son’s attacker, aged 12, attended Teesside Youth Court on Wednesday and admitted charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and having a blade in a public place.

Chair of the bench Pamela Ross gave the boy a 12-month referral order, made a compensation order of £1,000 and ordered him to pay £85 costs. He could not be sent to a young offenders’ institution because he was not a “persistent offender”, she said.

The victims mother said: "This weak sentence isn't sending out the right message to youths in this country's climate of rising knife crime.”

Speaking at a Community Safety Conference by Resolve, which works to tackle anti-social behaviour, Mr Peltier said children were carrying knives not to cause harm, but to be included in groups.

Children as young as eight are now carrying knives, ACO Anthony Peltier said. - Credit: Katie Collins /PA
Children as young as eight are now carrying knives, ACO Anthony Peltier said. Credit: Katie Collins /PA

He said: “When they are out with friends, because their other friends have got one and if they haven't got one then they’re not part of the group.

“If they haven’t got the best mobile phone they’ll keep their mobile phone away, it's become that kind of accessory.”

Mr Peltier added he knew cases involving eight and nine year old pupils bringing knives into primary schools.

“There's no intent behind that, they're not setting out to kill someone, they’re bringing knives to school because they think that's what they should be doing.

“The problem isn't going away, if anything more and more young people think carrying a knife is an acceptable thing to do,” he said.

The number of first-time knife crime offenders has risen by 25 percent in the last five years, with more than 14,000 caught in the year to June, official figures released last month showed.

The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions for similar crimes has also jumped to nearly 30 percent (5,774), its highest level on record, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.