Knife Petition Reaches Parliament

3.20.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 24th Feb 2005

Twickenham campaigning group Victims of Crime Trust, led by Norman Brennan and Clive Elliot, presented a nationwide petition to parliament today with Richard Taylor, father of Damiola Taylor and others, on the issue of knives used as weapons.

The group believe that the use of knives constitutes a bigger threat than guns and want to see tough action on the sale and possession of knives as offensive weapons, together with mandatory sentencing. Surveys (Mori) show that 1 in 4 teenagers have carried a knife with 1 in 5 admitting they have attacked others.

Vincent Cable MP said "I support the groups efforts to highlight knife crime. We hear a lot about gun crime by serious gangsters but much less about knife assaults and threats which are much more common. I agree with Victims of Crime Trust that there must be severe sentences for people who commit violent assaults in this way. But I do not agree with taking decision making away from judges. They must decide what sentence is appropriate".