Knife crime in Cambridgeshire: The figures

And as our interactive graphic shows, the number of occasions of possession of a knife alone has gone up significantly, year on year - from 111 in 2014/15 to 277 in 2018/19, a rise of nearly 150pc.

The figures show the 'outcomes' for all arrests for possession of an article with a blade or point for April to March for each year. The percentage where someone was charged or summonsed remained around 50pc across the time period.

Other highlight statistics from the data:

• Twenty

  young people from the county aged between 10 and 15 were cautioned or sentenced for knife crimes in 2019. Of the 20, six were cautioned and 12 received a community sentence.
• The number of knife crimes that ended in a caution or sentence actually dropped between 2009 and 2019. These figures were taken from a slightly different time frame (each year was measured from October to September) and show a fall from

  290

  in 2009 to

  245

  in 2019. This is a drop of

  16pc

  , the same as the national figure for that period.
• The number of offences per 100,000 people in the population was lower in 2019 in Cambridgeshire than for the overall average in England and Wales;

  33

  , compared to

  43

  .

Recent convictions in Cambridgeshire's courts related to knives include:

This week Andriejus Kostiajevas, 47, was sentenced to 28 years' imprisonment after the 'frenzied' murder of his wife Ligita Kostiajeviene with a knife and a hammer, before turning the blade on a child. Kostiajevas had denied charges of murder, attempted murder and assault on an emergency worker. Superintendent Michael Branston said aftewards: “This was a brutal, frenzied and sustained attack resulting in the death of an innocent woman and significant trauma to a young child.

Muhammad Rayhan, 19, of Cobden Street, racially abused a stranger and was later found in possession of a lock knife when arrested by police. He, and pleaded guilty to racially aggravated abuse, provocation of violence, possession of a knife, possession of class B drugs and common assault was sentenced to 22 months in a young offender institution last week.

Sylvia Dynarska, 36, of Lavington Grange, Parnwell - police were called to an argument between her and her boyfriend involving a knife in August, eventually leading to her receiving six months in prison for affray and assault causing actual bodily harm. She was sentenced to six months in prison in January.

Ismael Coulibaly, 20, robbed a victim in an alleyway on New Year's Eve in Bretton, before eventually threatening the victim with a slashing motion with a 12-inch knife, causing him to bleed profusely. Coulibaly, of Manton, Bretton, denied attempted robbery, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and threatening a person with a knife, but was jailed for 12 years.

There are also numerous other cases which are still open where someone has been attacked, threatened or wounded in the city and county.

A Peterborough police spokesperson said:

"We have a dedicated team of Safer Schools officers who work specifically with young people and secondary schools in Peterborough to educate them about the risks and consequences of knife crime, with the aim of preventing young people from carrying weapons and becoming victims of criminal exploitation.

“As a district we discuss knife crime and other serious crime on a daily basis, looking to prioritise those cases of highest harm and direct our resources in areas which need it most.

"We have an operation which is currently running in the city centre of Peterborough and the Lincoln Road area which focuses on locations which have suffered high-harm crime, including knife crime, investing extra resources to try to reduce criminal activity.

“We also hold periodic knife amnesties on a regular basis, with the last one seeing 30 knives handed in. This work also included test purchasing at local businesses to ensure retailers were doing their bit by not selling knives and bladed to those under 18.”

According to the Ministry of Justice in the UK:

Nationally in the year ending September 2019 nearly 22,300 knife and offensive weapon offences were formally dealt with by the CJS in England and Wales.

In the year ending September 2019, 38pc of knife and offensive weapon offences resulted in an immediate custodial sentence - compared with 23pc in the year ending September 2009.

The average length of the custodial sentences received also increased over the same period, from six months to just over eight months.

For just under three quarters (71pc) of offenders this was their first knife or offensive weapon possession offence. This is now at its lowest level since the year ending September 2009 (80pc).

The average custodial sentence received by offenders (sentenced under section 28 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015) was eight months in the year ending September 2019.

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