Knife attacks increase in UK

Knife attacks increased by 22 per cent in England and Wales in 2017.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday that the figures showed an 11 per cent increase in firearms offences, reports the BBC.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) said most types of crime stayed at similar levels to 2016.

It added that eight-in-10 adults had not experienced any crimes asked about in the survey throughout 2017.

Recorded homicides were also up by 9 per cent in 2017, to 653 from 599 the previous year.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the rise in these violent incidents was "unacceptably high" and they were "a national problem that required national solutions from the government".

"Today's figures show that, for most types of offence, the picture of crime has been fairly stable, with levels much lower than the peak seen in the mid-1990s," noted Alexa Bradley of the ONS' Crime Statistics and Analysis department.

"We have seen an increase in the relatively rare, but 'high-harm' violent offences such as homicide, knife crime and gun crime, a trend that has been emerging over the previous two years," Bradley added.

--IANS

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