A PLEA for a knife amnesty has been sounded in Thornaby after fresh fears about violent crime in the town.

Cleveland has one of the highest rates of knife crime for its population in the country – ranking second in England and Wales between October 2020 and September last year. Recent cases involving blades in Thornaby have drawn concerns from elected members at their latest meeting in the town.

Town mayor Cllr Steve Walmsley raised concerns on Monday night referring to the region’s position in the league tables and recent incidents in the town. He told colleagues he’d been “banging on” about trouble with youths for the past three or four years – criticising parents and guardians of those “running wild”.

Read more: Husband of Redcar council leader attacked man at war memorial

Cllr Walmsley said: “We’ve been banging on to the police that they’re getting cockier and cockier – and nothing has happened.

“We’ve warned someone is going to get seriously hurt. They’re getting tooled up and they’ve been getting tooled up for the past year or so.”

The member for Mandale and Victoria said he’d sent pictures of youngsters posing on social media with huge blades to Stockton Council enforcement teams.

And he believed lower level problems of bad behaviour could have been dealt with earlier.

“If it had been nipped in the bud a lot of this, I’m not saying it wouldn’t have happened – but the warning shots should have been there,” said Cllr Walmsley.

BBC series ‘We are England’ – featured James Cook Hospital surgeon Barney Green operating on a Teesside stab victim in its latest episode.

The programme heard how the hospital’s emergency department had treated someone assaulted with a knife an average once every three days.

And its recent broadcast touched a nerve with Thornaby’s mayor.

Cllr Walmsley added: “It showed you some pretty graphic stuff.

“A lad operated on having been stabbed seven times and he was very lucky. We’re talking about these kinds of things – how it’s a matter of millimetres whether you live or die.

“That’s how serious it is.

When it came to worsening bad behaviour, he added: “It’s pretty serious stuff. I suggest we get something across to the people in power about why people should have to put up with this all the time?”

Read more: Middlesbrough man dies in crash which left another driver critically ill

Office for National Statistics figures show Cleveland recorded 121 crimes involving knife or sharp instrument rate per 100,000 people between October 2020 and September 2021.

This was down from pre-pandemic rates of 133 per 100,000 in the previous year. But the latest ranking was second only to the West Midlands.

Town councillor John Flynn suggested a police knife amnesty in Thornaby so blades could be dropped off anonymously.

“It would still get some knives off the street,” he added.

Cllr Walmsley agreed it was worth suggesting.

After the meeting, the mayor added: “It’s about time it was raised again – the enormity of someone sticking something in someone else.

“It’s only a matter of time before we get another death.”

Long-term efforts to bring a violence reduction unit to Cleveland in a bid to tackle problems have fallen short so far.

Last year, Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner sounded pleas for the funding formula to be reviewed to account for areas such as Teesside which have missed out in the past.

When it came to knife crime, a force spokesperson said there were permanent knife bins in stations across Cleveland for people to continually hand in blades and other weapons.

She added: “Police are focussed on working with partner agencies to tackle knife crime. We would ask anyone with information about individuals carrying knives to report it to police so we can build intelligence and take action. Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 and you don’t even have to give your name.”