Under-18s face ban on buying knives

Tough new measures to tackle knife crime will be unveiled by the Government within weeks.

At the centre of the proposals will be a ban on the sale of knives to under-18s. Further measures will be aimed at children who bring knives to school and adults who carry them in the street.

The legislation follows a spate of brutal stabbings in London - culminating in yesterday's murder of City boss John Monckton at his Chelsea home. Knife incidents reported to police rose 13 per cent in London last year. Fatal stabbings are up 35 per cent nationwide since 1998.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are considering a package of measures to tackle the problem of knives. The Government takes its responsibility for public safety in this area extremely seriously."

Existing laws will be amended to raise the minimum age at which teenagers can buy knives, currently set at 16. Other moves to strengthen the law could be inserted as amendments to Bills announced in last week's Queen's Speech.

Earlier this month Education Secretary Charles Clarke declared that headteachers would gain new powers to search pupils suspected of

carrying knives, rather than waiting for police to arrive. Heads will also be able to request unannounced police searches in schools.

In London, one in six muggings now involves a knife. A knife crime is committed every 25 minutes, with four in five offenders aged between 12 and 20. West London has been particularly badly hit. Of all 32 boroughs, Kensington and Chelsea saw the fastest rise in knife crime in the past two years, followed by Hounslow.

Across the country, 202 people were stabbed to death in the year to March 1999. After four successive annual rises, the figure reached 272 in the year to March 2003.

The manufacture, sale and importation of 17 types of offensive weapon has already been banned. It is illegal to possess a knife in a public place without good reason, except penknives with blades that are less than three inches long.

Scotland Yard has warned that its successful campaign to tackle gun crime has encouraged criminals to switch to knives.