Colwyn bay - Children as young as 11 'carrying knives'

Last Updated: Monday, 5 June 2006, 18:11 GMT 19:11 UK  E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Children of 11 'carrying knives'

Thousands of knives have been handed in during the amnesty Children as young as 11 are carrying knives on the streets of Wales, a BBC investigation has found.Some children told Radio Wales' Eye on Wales programme they carried knives for protection, and one 10-year-old said he was able to buy one at a market. The revelations come in the middle of a five-week knife amnesty across the UK. But despite a spate of high-profile knife crimes, Prof Jonathan Sheppard of the Cardiff Violence Prevention group said there was no epidemic. Prof Sheppard, a surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, said there was no need to panic. "Knife crimes, as tragic as they are, are less frequent now than they used to be. "And the overall picture is that violent crime is coming down across the country," he said.  They think they are hard and basically they are showing off, but it is dangerous to carry a knife around for no reason  Anonymous youth questioned by Eye On Wales But those who have been directly affected by knife crime have called for tougher punishments. Christine Jones' 18-year-old son Ben was knifed in the chest in a road rage incident in Colwyn Bay by Christopher Johnson, 27, two years ago. She said Johnson, who is now serving life for murder, had a string of knife-related offences going back over a number of years. "It is not working, so why not stop, change it and go for harsher punishments," she told Eye On Wales. The programme found one boy who admitted having bought a knife when he was 10, and young people were familiar with knives being carried on the streets by themselves, friends and acquaintances. Ben Jones was knifed in the chest in a road rage incident in Colwyn Bay Statistics suggest that children under 16 are not committing knife crimes, but are affected by reports in the media of stabbings and other knifing incidents. Eye on Wales spoke to one boy who carried a knife because a gang was looking for him. Another said young people carried knives on the street because it improved their image. "They think they are hard and basically they are showing off," he said. "But it is dangerous to carry a knife around for no reason." Around 10,000 knives have been handed into police stations around the UK since the start of the knife amnesty in May.