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Another British school knifing
26/05/2006 21:03 - (SA)
London - A teenager was stabbed at a Birmingham school on Friday, just two days after a knife amnesty began in a bid to take thousands of weapons off the streets.
The incident happened at lunchtime at Heartlands High School in the Nechells area of Britain's second largest city, said West Midlands police.
"The teenage lad has been taken to hospital, but we have no details of his condition," said a police spokesperson.
The latest stabbing comes just a few days after the murder of 15-year-old student Kiyan Prince. He was stabbed to death trying to stop a fight outside his school gates in London.
That murder followed the killing of part-time police officer Nisha Patel-Nasri, who was knifed to death outside her London home earlier this month.
The government knife amnesty was in response to growing public concern about knife crimes.
Statistics show that 6% of all violent crimes in the country are knife-related.
Out of 820 homicides in 2004/5, 236 involved sharp instruments. In London alone, there were 12 589 knife-related incidents last year.
Young people aged 15 to 18 made up the bulk of the offenders and victims in the capital.
The issue of knife crime rose to prominence in 1995 when head teacher Philip Lawrence was stabbed to death outside his school in west London when he tried to defend one of his pupils.
His death shocked the public and politicians, and led to a raft of new measures and police powers.
It also resulted in the last knife amnesty to be held in Britain, when almost 40 000 weapons were handed in.
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