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 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.
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.
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 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.
