Bin your blade

POLICE this week urged the public wishing to get rid of illegally-held or unwanted knives to put them in the disposal bin at Bexhill police station.

The family of a Hastings man killed last year in a knife incident on Wednesday backed the launch of a nationwide knife amnesty.

Sussex Police had already welcomed plans for the amnesty launch and announced arrangements to receive surrendered weapons at police stations across the force area.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Yeo said: "Sussex Police welcomes this initiative. We hope that it will serve to reduce the availability of knives or other sharp-bladed instruments of all descriptions, and ultimately spare innocent members of the public the trauma of being threatened with such a weapon."

People in Sussex can to surrender weapons at all police stations, except Gatwick, during normal opening hours without being prosecuted for illegal possession.

The national knife amnesty runs until Friday, June 30.

Mr Yeo said: "This amnesty provides a great opportunity for people to get rid of an illegally-held, or unwanted knife or other bladed instrument. We are not complacent.

"This initiative is one of a range of measures we are taking to ensure that we keep a tight grip on knife crime, and that Sussex remains a safe place to live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We do have a particular concern over people, often young men, who carry such weapons in public, possibly in ignorance.

"Anyone carrying them faces the real possibility of being confronted by armed officers."

Matt Jones died from a single knife wound in a fight in Hastings last September. On Wednesday his family backed the national knife amnesty by taking part in a launch press conference at Lewes.

Matt's sister, Becky Jones, is urging people to drop weapons in bins at Sussex police stations during the amnesty, running throughout June.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said: "As a family we have been devastated by one knife thrust. This one split second has ruined our lives forever. We support this campaign in the hope that no other family goes through what we have gone through."

Bexhill Police Station in Terminus Avenue is among the knife amnesty centres as illustrated above.

Police advise people wishing to deposit knives to wrap them in cardboard or something similar and secure them with tape so that they can be demonstrated to be not able to be used during carriage to an amnesty bin location.