Knives seized after man is stopped in Hartlepool town centre

The man is now being held by Cleveland Police.

Hartlepool Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) Tweeted a picture of the two blades, complete with sheaths, last night, Tuesday, December 15: “#hartlepoolnpt seized these from an adult male in Hartlepool Town centre today

“The male is now in custody.”

The team also Tweeted about the work of community support officers in an arrest: “Today #hartlepoolnpt community support officers, assisted in the arrest of a male wanted for robbery and three thefts

“Great result #teamwork.”

The knife seizure comes as a new report shows more than a third of those caught carrying a blade in the Cleveland Police area have previously committed a knife crime.

Anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust says too many offenders “simply reappear on our streets still carrying weapons”.

The figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal there were 223 convictions and cautions for knife possession in the Cleveland Police area in the 12 months up to September.

In almost 40 per cent of cases, the offender had committed at least one previous offence of carrying a knife. In 19 cases there were three or more past offences.

Immediate prison sentences were given in 54 of the repeat offences while 15 were dealt with by suspended jail sentences, four by community orders and one by a caution.

The outcome was not specified in the report for 11 of the offences.

Nationally, there were 12,458 convictions and cautions given to adult offenders for knife possession in the same period – of which a third were repeat offenders.

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