KNIVES are just a reality of teen life in Swindon, the grandfather of one child with a conviction for weapons possession has said.

And teens have told the Advertiser they are carrying the deadly blades for protection – as rivals arm themselves with the weapons.

One Park South boy, 16, who said he had once taken a knife onto Swindon streets, said: “If someone else is carrying a knife you feel threatened and so you carry a knife.

“I know people who have carried swords about with them. It’s how it is.

“It’s not about who’s got the biggest knife. It’s just protection and fear – fear of being stabbed."

Another 14-year-old, who last year appeared before Swindon Youth Court on a knife possession charge, said he had carried the red-handled knife “just for protection”. Asked who he felt the need to protect himself against, he replied: “Just random people.”

The lad’s grandfather, 52, said of knife possession among younger people: “I just think it’s the reality now. That’s what they do.

“When I was younger it wasn’t anything like this. When I was my grandson’s age I was playing war with a stick and making dens.

“It’s the younger generation. That’s what they see on the internet and they think it’s the norm.”

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Last month, an 11-year-old boy was arrested in Swindon town centre after he was allegedly found in possession of a knife. He was the youngest person stopped by police in a week-long operation targeting knife crime.

Swindon Advertiser:

David Tippetts with a knife seized during Op Sceptre earlier this year

The force appealed last week after a gang of teens armed with knives confronted another group in a play park off Eldene Drive. The ringleader was believed to be just 13-years-old.

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Across Wiltshire, knife crime rose slightly by one per cent last year. Police logged 66 knifepoint robberies, two attempted murders involving the weapon and two sexual assaults perpetrated at knifepoint, according to the latest Home Office figures.

However, the number of knife offences resulting in a court conviction or police caution in Wiltshire has remained broadly stable over recent years, at between 170 and 164 offences in the past three years.

Experts say that, while the perception among young people and the wider population is that knives are being carried more frequently, the number of offences has stayed relatively level.

For Wiltshire Police’s Pippa McVeigh, who has spent more than two decades working on crime prevention in the county, smartphones have been the game-changer.

“Social media has upped the risk factor,” she said. “When I was young, I had a friend who didn’t even have a landline. Even 12-years-ago the vast majority of teenagers might have had a mobile phone, but not a smartphone.

“I think a smartphone brings a propensity for disrespect, making comments, causing upset or causing anger and therefore the capacity for quick reprisals, for somebody to feel they are at risk is absolutely amplified.”

She stressed it was a minority of children who chose to carry a weapon, but warned: “If a young person carries a knife they increase their chances of having that knife used against them.”

Matt Bywater of Swindon Youth Offending Team suggested parents and carers should ask themselves whether they knew what was in their children’s schoolbags: “We’re not advocating stop-and-search, but are you having those conversations [about knives] with your children?”

The authorities plan to this summer bring an innovative workshop to Swindon, with teens caught carrying knifes going face-to-face with people whose lives have been affected by knife crime – including the family member of a stabbing murder victim.