Youths who carry knives face tougher sentences under new guidelines to be agreed at Downing Street talks on violent crime today.

Anyone over the age of 16 who is caught with a knife will face automatic prosecution and risk a jail sentence of up to four years.

The change, rushed through after a spate of stabbings, could affect hundreds of youths who until now have escaped with a caution or a warning. It reflects growing frustration among police forces across the UK at the number of offenders who admit possessing a knife in public but who are not prosecuted in the courts.

The new guidelines will be announced at a knife crime meeting led by Gordon Brown. They will be discussed with Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary; Ken Jones, the leader of Britain’s chief constables; Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, Director of Public Prosecutions; and Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, the Attorney-General.

Police will press for the new rule to be put into law rather than just being issued as guidance. They say that this will strengthen the position of officers dealing with knife crimes.

Mr Brown told MPs in the Commons yesterday that it was unacceptable to carry knives. The Prime Minister sent his condolences to the families of those who had suffered as a result of knife crime in recent weeks.

He added: “Every parent will want their teenage sons and daughters not only to be safe but feel safe in our neighbourhoods. That’s why knives are unacceptable and we’ve got to do everything in our power to deter them.

“That’s why the whole House will agree that it is right that the presumption that we prosecute should now extend to 16-year-olds as well.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers had been drawing up the first set of national guidelines to be issued to every force in England and Wales recommending the prosecution of anyone over the age of 18 found in possession of a knife. After a series of attacks involving younger people, the association has now lowered the age to 16.

The guidance says there should be an expectation that anyone over 16 should be charged and prosecuted in court. However, ministers have to decide yet which policy to adopt towards those under 16, as they do not want to criminalise children.

The Government is resisting pressure from the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, for a minimum sentence for anyone caught in possession of a knife. It will remain for the courts to decide whether someone convicted should be fined, given a community punishment or sent to jail.

Latest figures from the Ministry of Justice show that in 2006 more than half of all those over the age of 10 caught in possession of a knife received a caution or final warning. A total of 3,330 were cautioned and 2,987 convicted in the courts.

About 95 per cent of 10 to 17-year-olds found with a knife were cautioned in 2006.

The figures also show that since 1997 only six people who were convicted of possessing a knife received the old maximum two-year prison sentence. Figures are not yet available for how many have been given the new four- year maximum sentence because it came into force only in February.

Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “Recently a worrying trend has emerged in relation to knife crime. We are seeing both an intensification in the severity of offending, and a worrying change in the age profile of offenders and victims.

“We need to send out a signal to those who carry knives for no good reason, that they can expect the police service to do its best to get them before a court.”

However, senior police officers want to ensure that the new guidance will be flexible enough to allow for what one source described as “common-sense policing” by officers.

The Police Federation gave warning that without robust policing, laws and penalties would not deal with the problem. Simon Reed, vice-chairman, said: “We need police officers on the streets encountering these people and making them think they are going to be caught.”

Cult of the blade

200 - Knives seized in two weeks during recent stop-and-search operations in London

10% - Of 11-to 12-year-olds admit carrying a knife in the past year

25% - Of 15-to 16-year-olds admit the same

20% - Of 16-year-olds say they have used a knife with intention of seriously harming someone

3.5 - Times more knife crimes committed in Scotland than in England or Wales

57% - Of excluded pupils aged 11 to 17 admit carrying knives

29% - Of pupils in London have carried knives

Sources: BCS; Metropolitan Police; www.crimeinfo.org.uk; Youth Justice Board

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