Last weekend a teenager lost his life after a stabbing in broad daylight in Swindon and I know this will have affected you all.

It is almost unbelievable that a young man was killed on our streets in the middle of a Sunday afternoon.

And yet, this is the grim reality police forces across the country are facing.

Knife crime is rising at an alarming rate and Wiltshire is not immune.

Between June 2021 and June 2022, we saw a 48 per cent increase in the number of crimes being committed where someone has been in possession of a knife.

The issue, sadly, seems to be concentrated in Swindon and the surrounding areas.

I am, along with my colleagues who work every day in Swindon, acutely aware of the impact that knife crime has on our communities.

And the fact that most of these incidents involve children, is shocking and hard to accept.

To try and combat this, my officers have increased patrols, successfully applied for more closure orders, criminal behaviour orders and injunctions.

While these do help reduce threat and risk within the local community, we simply cannot deal with this issue alone.

We work closely with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, local authorities, schools and charities.

But now is the time we desperately need your help.

If you carry a knife or a weapon, stop for just a minute and consider the potentially life-changing actions that decision might have.

You could kill someone, you could be killed, you could end up spending most of your life in prison.

If you have any information about someone who carries knives or weapons, please reach out to us.

You can contact us directly on 101 or you can leave information anonymously by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

I cannot put it any simpler than this - knives kill, so help us put an end to knife crime.