Boxing Day stabbings: the knife-crime nightmare continues while the numbers jailed for carrying a weapon plummet

By Richard Barnbrook

The London knife-crime nightmare rages unabated with a double stabbing in Oxford Street in the midst of the Boxing Day sales. A fight in Foot Locker, in full view of shoppers, tragically resulted in a murder when an 18 year-old was stabbed in the heart. A further knifing occurred less than five hours later when a 21 year-old was stabbed in the thigh at Oxford Circus, but the victim fortunately survived.

Only three weeks earlier, on 2nd December, figures released by the Ministry of Justice showed that the proportion of people jailed for carrying a knife in England and Wales had fallen to its lowest level for more than three years. Only just over a fifth- 21%- of offenders convicted of possession of a knife or offensive weapon between July and September 2011 were jailed.

The Metropolitan Police have been increasing the use of ‘stop and search’ in order to deter young people from carrying knives. However, this is clearly not enough to reverse the situation if the courts are not prepared to impose tough sentences on those who are caught, in order to force potential knife-carriers to make a double-take. If they think that they are going to get away with it, then would-be offenders, especially youngsters, will continue to arm themselves because they mistakenly see the carrying of a weapon as a form of protection. And the problem is an ever increasing one: the more people who are seen to get away with routinely carrying knives, the more others will be encouraged to adopt the practice.

In the Legal Aid and Sentencing Bill, the government proposes to introduce a mandatory minimum prison sentence of four months for teenagers aged 16 and 17 convicted of threatening people with knives and 6 months for those aged over 18 years. This may be a step in the right direction, but in my view it’s only a tiny one. For a start, the defendant (aged 16 or over) would need to be shown to have actually threatened someone, so simply carrying a knife would not qualify. Secondly, the likelihood is that the offender would only actually serve half the sentence, which means in practice just two/three months inside. We need to fight fire with fire and send out a much stronger message, with a minimum term to be actually served of at least a year for those under 18 and 3 years for adults convicted for possession of a weapon in a public place. Only when the fear of getting caught outweighs that of being stabbed will the battle even begin to appear winnable.

 Meanwhile the tragic toll of those killed and maimed continues. What will it take for the politicians of all parties to get a grip?

But there is no knife-crime in Bexley!

By Richard Barnbrook

But there is no knife-crime in Bexley!

…..at least so says the politically correct mantra from the powers-that-be! Instead of pooling their efforts into stamping down on knife-crime, it would seem that some London politicians are more concerned with brow-beating those of us who make a stand against it.

Following reports made to me by three independent members of the public about a stabbing incident that was said to have taken place in Dansom Park, but which could not subsequently be verified, I have had to bow to the inevitable and make an apology, which has been posted on my blog. Or, face the possibility of a formal complaint and another Standards Board hearing, with the unwelcome inconvenience to myself and pointless expense to the taxpayer.

So please note that from henceforth, as a result of relentless pressure from the ‘P C’ brigade at City Hall, I will endeavour to be a good boy and reprogram myself politically correctly, as follows:

1) The problem of knife-crime does not exist- in Bexley, in Barking and Dagenham, in London, or indeed anywhere else.

2) All members of the public have a tendency to lie, or at least to gild the lily when it comes to knife-crime and should therefore be ignored.

3) Consequently I will not listen to, nor believe the concerns expressed to me by bona fide members of the public about alleged knife-crime incidents.

4) Unless an incident has been formally reported to the police, it never happened. Therefore I should dismiss any such information supplied to me by members of the public from my mind and should certainly not dare to repeat it, let alone bring it to the attention of the politicians in case it disturbs their karma.

5) If the problem of knife-crime does not exist, people cannot be concerned about it! Therefore their anxieties should also be ignored… after making the necessary polite noises of course.

6) Despite the fact that ten youngsters have been stabbed to death in London this year, the problem, such as it is, is under control, so don’t panic!

7) Reassurance is the name of the game. I must never say anything that might possibly cause upset or alarm. Besides, The Mayor has implemented schemes especially designed to address the (non-existent) ‘problem’ to keep youngsters busy. Therefore the ‘problem’, which of course never existed anyway, is solved. End of story.

8) What the politicians tell me is far, far more important than what you, the people tell me. So I should believe them and not you. Even though you elected me to represent you!

So, to all you good citizens of London out there, who come up to me in the street to express your concerns about knife-crime, please, take it from the new, re-programmed, politically correct me, (or rather from the authorities)-it’s all in capable hands. (Well, that’s their story). So, as everything in the garden’s absolutely blooming rosy, in future I’ll just carry on politically correctly like everyone else, by shaking hands, patting babies and turning a deaf ear- as I was elected to do! NOT!