Star comment: See sense and hand in knives
The cosy idea that knife crime is not a problem in Shropshire was shattered with the stabbing to death of a 16-year-old boy in a Shrewsbury street.
Had it happened in London, it would probably have made the national news. In any event, it was the sort of crime Salopians would normally associate with the big cities, rather than Shropshire.
The 20-year-old killer of Michael Warham is now to spend at least his lifetime in jail – he must serve a minimum of 20 years.
Declan Graves will have plenty of time in his cell to regret going out that night armed with a knife. He will serve the consequences for using it. Had he not done so, the tragic outcome for Michael, and the just punishment handed down on Graves, would not have arisen.
It is a case which should make others who are similarly disposed to carry knives consider carefully the potential consequences of their actions. And it is a case which has led to a four-week knife amnesty in Shropshire.
Police are seizing an appropriate moment to drive a message home. People will have the opportunity to surrender their knives anonymously at police stations in Shrewsbury and Telford and, as this is part of a national campaign called Operation Sceptre, at other police stations as well.
Objectively knife crime is relatively low in the West Mercia force area, which covers Shropshire, when compared with other places. But knowing it is worse elsewhere is not a comfort when it happens here. It makes it all the more shocking.
We have to be realistic about what a knife amnesty will achieve.
For a start, household knives are deadly weapons which will continue to be freely available to buy in the shops.
And a gang member who routinely carries a knife, or somebody who carries a knife to be “big” among their peers, or as a measure of “self defence,” is going to be a tough nut to crack and it will be a real achievement if they voluntarily give up their blade.
A lot of those who hand in knives will be law-abiding people who want to get rid of them, perhaps because they are old keepsakes which are now of illegal design. There may well be some rusting antiques in the police station knife boxes during the amnesty period.
But the hope has to be that the campaign will reach some of the target audience and make them see sense.
It is simple really. You cannot use a knife if you do not have one.
