10 years for carrying a knife

[Hoover2025]

I have just watched question time. Everyone saying it’s complicated. We couldn’t have stopped this.

But we could have done.

This male was caught with a knife in public twice. If he had been jailed he wouldn’t have been free to commit these murders. Sure that might have just delayed things. But maybe not. He wouldn’t internet access anymore. Isolation to radicalise himself. There’s also a chance someone would have said there’s something not right with you and they might have had treatment of some kind.

I also think generally this will reduce knife crime drastically. I’m pretty sure >90% of people carrying knives aren’t actually murdering / or planning to murder someone at that very point in time. Something happens and then the knife comes out.

Why is no talking about this as the obvious step. It’s not the complicated problem of knife access/ purchase. It’s quite simply - you carry and you lose your freedom.

Op, read the existing laws on carrying knives. They're already doing a lot of what you seem to think we need to do.
They allow for exceptions.

I definitely bring sharp knives and a decent pan to holiday apartments - the ones they tend to have are dire. It isn't a ridiculous scenario.

People who are outdoors more than you seem to be definitely need knives for various reasons. In Finland or France it's more commonplace than in the UK but laws have to be fit for rural areas just as much as for London.

It's not the knives that are the issue. We already have plenty of adequate legislation. It's the lack of following up on concerns such as Prevent referrals, and also lack of adequate educational settings. He was moved from pillar to post and not at all supported. Many children aren't supported and don't stab people ofc but it can't have helped.

What a shame nobody thought through all this before and got it codified into law.

Oh hang on, they did - s.139 Criminal Justice Act 1988. Admittedly it's only been in force for 35 years or so, so I appreciate you may not have had the opportunity to look it up.

Yes, there is. Chefs, Crafters, think leather workers, etc, How are they supposed to get from A to B without carrying the tools of their trade? These are some reasons where it's perfectly legal to carry a knife.

• taking knives you use at work to and from work
• taking knives to a gallery or museum to be exhibited
• the knife is going to be used for theatre, film, television, historical reenactment or religious purposes, e.g. the kirpan some Sikhs carry

A court will decide if you’ve got a good reason to carry a knife if you’re charged with carrying it illegally.

What you can't do is use self-defence as a reason for carrying one.

My husband, a Scots an, wears a Sgian Dubh (small knife) in the top of his socks when he wears Highland Dress and he is legally entitled to fo so.
Banning the carrying of knives for any reason in public won't stop knife crime. After all, they banned guns yet there are still those to be had.
Let's be clear on this. Knife murders happen because a human has decided to stab someone. That is where the blame squarely lies. With the person wielding the knife.
That's the angle we have to tackle.

As for increasing the sentence to a mandatory ten years for a first offence including for young offenders - well, campaign for it, if you like. Here's the details for the Sentencing Council and if you want to persuade them that forgetful* possession of a bladed article should carry a greater penalty than a one-punch murder often does, then go for it. I'm sure plenty of people will be calling for the same.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/sentencing-and-the-council/contact-us/

*forgetfulness is not a defence - presumably you'd want to address that in any submissions you make. So that the various Mumsnetters who want to cut up birthday cakes or peel potatoes in holiday lets will not be sent down for a decade if they forget they've left the knife in the car the day after the holiday.

An arsehole with a knife almost took away the life of one of the most precious people in my world - this was a random attack and was before knife crime was what it is now.

Anyone carrying a knife should absolutely get 10 years minimum in prison for carrying a knife - there’s just no excuse, no justification. They seriously need to bring in prison ships while we have the problem of overcrowding in prisons in the UK.

The existing work to help prevent people carrying and using knives isn’t working as there is just no deterrent and the UK feels lawless to me. Bring back stop and search (although please don’t be racist and only stop black boys) and also introduce 10 year prison sentences for knife carrying, and life sentences or ideally the death penalty for taking a life, and see the numbers fall drastically.

If might sound dramatic to some, but remember one of the dearest people in my life was only just saved from an evil knife attack and I wouldn’t wish anyone else had to experience the same awful events. Something drastic needs to be done soon.

*My husband, a Scots an, wears a Sgian Dubh (small knife) in the top of his socks when he wears Highland Dress and he is legally entitled to fo so.\8

Sikhs carry a kirpan. Well not all of them, but the Khalsa do, and as above it is legal to wear one.

Neither of which are insuperable objections.

@MereDintofPandiculation
I am actually a gardener 😂 so yes on googling you are correct. I literally never use these. It’s pretty much unnecessary unless you’re grafting something which is not everyday. Probably useful for cutting twine but I have a million other implements less likely to cause me injury to do that with. I have always called that a hook knife but appreciate I’m wrong. I don’t think horihoris have the ability’s of a stabby knife.

Maybe it is the current law that I want. But actually enacted and much harsher punishments.

We can’t keep going on like this. People are getting stabbed everyday. It is ridiculous!