THERE were 250 recorded offences involving knives in Dorset last year, comprising three per cent of all crimes recorded in the county.

Dorset saw seven attempted murders where the offender had a knife and experienced 129 reports of injury involving knives - two per cent of recorded crime. Nearly 90 robberies which took place in the county also involved a knife.

Overall there were more than 2,158 knife crimes recorded in the south west in the 12 months to the end of March 2019.

However the statistics show that Dorset has the lowest knife crime figures in the south west with Avon and Somerset topping the tables with 885 offences and 440 in Devon and Cornwall. Wiltshire recorded 286 knife crimes.

The knife crime figures were released as part of a national report compiled by the Office for National Statistics which showed that nationally, knife crime in England and Wales hit a record high in 2018/19, up eight per cent on the previous year.

As well as the increase in offences involving knives or sharp instruments, offences involving firearms recorded by the police nationally rose by three per cent to more than 6,000 offences.

Police recorded 43,516 offences involving knives or sharp objects in the year to March 2019, the highest since comparable records began in 2011.