SUPER-criminals who are caught carrying knives and committing crimes several times are STILL escaping jail, a bombshell report warns today.
Furious MPs demanded ministers review soft sentences again after a shocking review showed that the number of “super prolific offenders” who dodge prison has tripled since 2017.
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Nearly 4,000 had more than 50 previous convictions – an average of six in every constituency.
Despite ministers vowing to crack down on knife crime and stop the blood shed on Britain’s streets, the research from Onward unearths new Ministry of Justice data showing that half of all crimes are being carried out by 10 per cent of offenders.
And the number of people convicted of repeat offences for carrying blades – but not jailed – is now at the highest level since 2012.
A fifth of lags are being leg out without serving even half of their sentences too, the report showed.
The staggering figures revealed that in the last decade:
More and more people were getting suspended and community sentences too, before being jailed, the report found.
The report’s author, MP Neil O’Brian blasted: “Whoever is the next Prime Minister must invest in our jails and ensure that super-prolific criminals start getting the time in prison they deserve.”
“We must also protect the public from the small group of people who commit so much crime.
“Super-prolific offenders must face more certain and longer prison sentences.”
Knife crime has shot up in London in recent years – along with robbery, burglary and other crimes.
But the pattern extends right across the country, which is thought to be down to the extension of thugs running drugs up and down county lines.
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Soft justice: smug man, 18, laughs and poses for selfie after dodging prison after 2 knife offences
Kyle Davis, 18, a suspected drug dealer with a history of carrying a blade, dodged jail back in March.
He was given a suspended sentence despite being caught with wraps of cocaine and a lock knife – his second weapons’ offence.
He had first been caught carrying a knife at school at the age of 14, for which he received a police caution.
As he left Birmingham Magistrates’ Court he laughed and took a boasting selfie on his phone.
Mr O’Neil called for an immediate review of sentencing policy regarding career criminals, and demanded they be jailed for longer.
And more prison space needs to be found to cage up everyone who is dangerous.
Earlier this week Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that knife crime would be tackled like a disease in a fresh blitz on street violence.
Under the plan, nurses and teachers who meet young people at risk of being lured into joining gangs will be expected to raise the alarm.
Youth clubs, probation staff and community projects will be expected to play a part.
Mr Javid hailed our Beat the Blades campaign which seeks a wider range of measures to tackle knife crime.
He said: “The Sun on Sunday has rightly pointed out that the answer isn’t just about beefing up law enforcement. To tackle serious violence you’ve got to do it on all fronts.”
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Zombie knife maniac was spared jail
A teen maniac who was filmed hitting a car was initially spared jail despite wielding a “zombie knife” in a shocking street attack.
Footage of Joshua Gardner, 18, wildly slashing at a blue VW car that had clipped his bike in May last year went viral.
The driver fled as Gardner smashed a window and tried to rip a door off in Croydon, South London.
He was convicted of attempted GBH at the Old Bailey last year. During his trial, he claimed to carry the knife for self-defence following a ten-day kidnap ordeal.
The court heard how the thug had previously been let off with a community order after demanding a 12-year-old schoolboy’s phone and wallet at knife point in March 2017.
Gardner, a known gang member, was finally caged in January after an appeal judge ruled his suspended sentence was too lenient. He was jailed for three-and-a-half years in January
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