ASSAULTS with knives and other sharp objects led to hundreds of hospital admissions involving Cheshire residents in less than a decade, figures show.

Anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust called for more to be done to educate children about the impact of knife crime, with two in five stabbing admissions across England involving young people.

Between April 2012 and March this year, there were around 455 admissions of patients from the Cheshire policing area following an assault with a sharp object, according to data from NHS Digital.

Of those, around 30 per cent involved people aged under 25.

Around 50 admissions followed attacks on people from the area in 2020-21 – the most recent period with complete data.

Figures are rounded to the nearest five to protect patient confidentiality.

The police force covering the patient's area of residence is recorded, meaning the assault could have happened elsewhere.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council said knife crime was a policing priority nationally and that early intervention played a vital role in stopping young people from becoming involved in crime.

He added: "Preventing people from carrying knives is not something that police forces can do alone – it requires schools, charities, the health service and community groups to work together.

"It is through engagement and working with partners that we can deliver long-lasting change and ensure young people can see the devastating effects carrying a knife can have."

Home Office crime figures for England and Wales show 262 people lost their lives to a blade in the year to June, with nearly 47,000 serious knife crimes recorded in that time.

In Cheshire, police recorded 259 serious knife crimes over the same period, including two murders, 179 assaults involving injury and five knife-related rapes or sexual offences.

A Government spokesman said the introduction of a Serious Violence Duty would ensure all parts of the public sector worked together to protect people from harm.

He added: "We are putting 20,000 more police officers on our streets and also giving them greater powers of stop and search, so that more dangerous weapons can be seized and more lives saved."