In the last year, Wiltshire has witnessed an increase in knife crimes by 14 percent.

Between April 2022 and March 2023 there were 312 knife crimes in the county. This compares to 274 in the same period the previous year.

Swindon has seen one of the highest numbers of stabbings in the last year compared to the previous decade. In the last month there were multiple stabbing across the town including the most recent on in Gorse Hill.

Being Wiltshire’s largest town, Swindon has seen the largest amount of stabbing across the county.

The amount of violent crimes in Swindon has more than doubled in the last year according to figures collected by Varbes.

These statistics were published by the Office of National Statistics in March.

The 312 compares to 2215 overall in the southwest.

Despite what seems to be a massive increase in this type of crime within Swindon along, among the south west, the change in numbers is relatively coherenet.

This is what Wiltshire police say about knife crimes:

If you carry a knife or weapon 

• If you are involved in stabbing another person and they die you could face a minimum of 10 years in prison.  
• If you are part of a group or gang where a knife is used and someone is killed or injured joint enterprise applies. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t you use the knife, if you are with them you could also be prosecuted for the assault and face a lengthy prison sentence. 
• You are putting yourself more at risk of injury.  
• People who carry a weapon are more likely to be injured.  
• You could be killed. 
• You could get up to five years in prison, even if the knife or weapon is not used. 
• You could hurt or injure others including innocent people