Number of knife thugs escaping prison more than doubles in decade, figures reveal

THE number of knife thugs avoiding prison has more than doubled in a decade, figures show.

Some 4,800 offenders got suspended sentences compared to 2,213 in 2013.

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Knife thugs avoiding prison have more than doubled since 2013[/caption]

The number of cautions and fines for knife crimes have also fallen in the last ten years.

It comes as Britain’s jails fill up, with 87,012 behind bars — up around 6,000 in 12 months.

Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed said the Tories are “missing in action in the fight against knife crime”

“Knife crime is going unpunished, destroying thousands of young lives, devastating families and leaving a wake of violence in communities.

“The government will get on and deliver the prison places we need to ensure that dangerous criminals are behind bars and get 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs on the streets.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s party have claimed they will half knife crime in a decade if they make it to No10.

As more and more wrong-uns are locked up, the space in Britain’s jails has been increasingly squeezed.

The Ministry of Justice insisted there had been a rise in the number going to jail for knife crime — up from 4,611 in 2013 to 5,798 this year so far.

A Government spokesperson said: “More knife-carrying criminals are being sent to jail for longer than they were a decade ago and we’ve also toughened up sentencing so repeat knife offenders are more likely to face time behind bars.”