Shropshire MP calls for 'astonishing' Knife Angel sculpture to go on show in capital

Mr Paterson said every police force in the country should be behind the Knife Angel project, which has taken 100,000 knives off the streets.

His comments come after it was revealed that the sculpture may never be unveiled because six police forces have failed to back the amnesty.

The Conservative MP said: "The Knife Angel is a most astonishing project that absolutely shocks you to see it.

"It's horrific, it's truly shocking and it's been effective in what it's set out to do – getting 100,000 knives off the streets but what I can't understand is why every single police force isn't backing this. It's utterly shocking."

The British Ironwork Centre, near Oswestry, which is behind the project, began supplying knife banks to the 43 police forces across England and Wales two years ago, with the backing of the Home Office.

But only 37 police forces have contributed. Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent, South Wales, Lincolnshire, Sussex and South Yorkshire are yet to send the centre any knives, leaving the project at a standstill.

Mr Paterson said: "Clive Knowles from the British Ironwork Centre and Alfie Bradley, the sculptor who created the angel, should be congratulated for their work in getting 100,000 knives off the streets.

"It truly is an extraordinary project, and it must be displayed on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square."

Earlier this week Avril Sanders Royle, whose 20-year-old stepson Julian Sanders,was brutally murdered, labelled the stalling of police forces in being part of the knife amnesty as "outrageous" and has called on the six remaining force and the government to get involved.

Maurice Latus, of Wroxeter near Shrewsbury, decapitated Mr Sanders in 2000.

The aim of the statue is to raise countrywide awareness of Britain's knife crime epidemic with its 'Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife' slogan. Dyfed-Powys Police were unavailable for comment.