The Office for National Statistics figures also showed teenagers are much more likely to be killed by a knife or sharp instrument than other age groups. Almost half of fatal attacks in England and Wales involved a knife or blade, figures show, as the proportion of killings linked to sharp weapons soars to an 11-year high. Of 570 homicides recorded in the year ending March 2024, 262 people were killed using a knife or other sharp instrument, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.
![[Actor Idris Elba is campaigning to ban kitchen knives with a sharp point]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/9/21/507321.jpeg)
This equates to 46 per cent of killings, the highest proportion for 11 years, up from 42 per cent the previous year and just 31 per cent in the year ending March 2017. The most commonly used sharp instrument was a kitchen knife, which was used in 109 fatal attacks, up eight per cent on the previous year. The figures come after home secretary Yvette Cooper revealed she is considering calls from actor and campaigner Idris Elba to ban kitchen knives with a sharp point in a bid to halve knife crime in a decade. Instead, knives would have a rounded end.
![[Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said the Government will consider ‘any issue that might make children safer’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/05/11/afff57bc11e47275f14a6e08562e0d90Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM4ODQyMjE1-2.78877035.jpg)
“We are looking at the point that Idris Elba has made… we will look at any issue that might make children safer,” she told The Times Crime and Justice Commission this week. “This is an issue that Idris has raised. It's also an issue [raised by] surgeons who have dealt with knife crime. Victims have also raised this as well in the past. So that's why we are looking at it.”. Labour has pledged to halve knife crime in a decade amid fears knife attacks are on the rise, with recent tragedies including the stabbing of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose at a school in Sheffield this week.
Although knife crime increased by 4.4 per cent in the year to March 2024, with 50,500 offences linked to a blade recorded, they have not exceeded pre-pandemic highs and remain 2.8 per cent lower than in the year ending March 2020. The ONS statistics published on Thursday also showed teenagers are much more likely to be killed by a knife or sharp instrument than other age groups. There were 64 homicides where the victim was aged 13 to 19 years. In eight in ten of these, the method of killing was with a knife or sharp instrument compared to the average of 46 per cent across all age groups.
