There are five knife crimes a week in Lincolnshire, according to eye-opening new figures which reveal the number of incidents are on the rise.
Latest figures from the Ministry of Justice show that, in the in the year ending September 2018, there were 249 offences recorded by the police where a knife or sharp instrument was involved.
This is an increase of 10 per cent compared to the year ending September 2017, when there were 227 offences recorded.
It works out as an average of 4.7 incidents every week.
The 249 knife crimes in Lincolnshire included 138 offences of actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, 66 robberies, 39 threats to kill, two attempts to murder and two rapes, one sexual assault and one homicide.
Data also reveals that the number of convictions or cautions for knife crime is instead decreasing.
In the year to September 2018 there were 198 convictions or cautions for possessing a knife or offensive weapon, or threatening another with a knife or offensive weapon.
That is five per cent up from the 208 convictions in the previous 12 months.
Across England and Wales, police forces recorded 42,957 knife crimes during the year ending in September 2018, the highest number in a decade and an increase of 23 per cent compared to the same period a decade ago.
At the same, the number of cautions and convictions for possession of a knife or offensive weapon and threatening with a knife or offensive weapon has also decreased nationally.
There were 19,440 convictions and cautions for such crimes in the year ending in September 2018, nearly a quarter fewer than the 27,211 recorded in September 2009.
Meanwhile, latest figures released today show that there were 285 homicides with a knife or sharp instrument recorded across England and Wales in 2017/18 - the highest number since the Home Office started recording the figure in 1946.
Commander Stuart Cundy, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for homicide, said: “Every homicide is one too many.
“Each has a devastating impact and our thoughts are with the families and friends of all those who have died.