Knife crimes on rise in Britain

LONDON, July 5 (UPI) -- Crimes committed with knives, such as stabbings and armed robberies, are on the rise in Britain, police say.

Authorities say 26,277 serious offenses involving knives and sharp instruments were committed in the fiscal year ending March 31, up 6 percent from the previous year, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The rise in knife crimes, which police commanders have acknowledged are spreading, has prompted calls for tough penalties for youths caught with knives, the newspaper said.

The total, included in annual crime statistics for England and Wales to be published July 16 by Britain's Home Office, included only knife attacks in which victims were mugged or injured. The stats exclude about 270 fatal stabbings, which the Home Office counts separately, as well as knife threats or illegal possession, the Telegraph said.

The areas with the most knife crimes were big cities such as London, Manchester, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Merseyside.

But rural areas such as Devon, Cornwall, Avon, Somerset, Cambridgeshire and Kent also had hundreds of knife offenses, the newspaper reported.