Sharp rise in the number of women and girls caught carrying knives

The amount of women and girls involved in knife possession offences has risen by 10 per cent each year since 2014.

Over 1,500 offences were recorded in 2018, which amounts to an increase of 73 per cent over the last five years.

It comes as youth workers in the UK have revealed that some women carry weapons for gangs as they are less likely to be stopped by the police.

Police figures show that between 2014 and 2018 there had been more than 5,800 recorded knife possession crimes involving women.

The data, revealed by the BBC, comes as youngsters from across the country call on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do something about the knife crime epidemic in the UK.

The revelation comes as an officer was attacked in east London last night by a man wielding a machete.

Police officers in east London had stopped the man on a routine search when he got out of his van and slashed the officer. The officer remains in hospital where he is receiving treatment for his injuries. 

This is while on a wider scale, knife crime has also gone up nationally after a spate of stabbings across the country. 

Figures show that stabbings reached their highest level from 1946 after it was recorded that there were 285 killings by a knife or sharp instrument in the 12 months ending March 2018.

New data has suggested that women are often made to carry weapons as they are less likely to be stopped by police 

Data from 38 forces out of 39 in England showed almost a quarter of all offences involved girls under the age of 18, with the youngest found carrying a knife being just seven-years-old.

Police in London recorded a 52 per cent increase over five years, with 916 recorded offences from 2014 to 2018.

This is while Merseyside Police saw a 54 per cent rise, to 499 offences, while the number of offences in Greater Manchester doubled, with 95 recorded offences last year.

Elsewhere in South Yorkshire, there had been a 82 per cent rise over the same time period, with 248 offences.

One community worker, who was a former gang leader in south London said there are ‘girls that stab’.

Jennifer Blake said: ‘For some women it’s a normal thing to have in your bag, like lipstick.

‘We have got girls that stab, but it’s just like the elephant in the room. No-one wants to talk about it because no one knows how to deal with it.

‘Everywhere you go you have problems with girls and their identity, their self-worth and those are the vulnerable ones that boys end up picking up. 

‘Knife, guns, drugs – they are the couriers for it. They’re not going to get stopped by police, and the men know that.’

The Home Office recently said it would be investing £220 million into steering both young men and young women away from violent crime.