More than a fifth of criminals prosecuted for knife offences in Dyfed-Powys have been caught carrying a blade in the past, figures show.

New Ministry of Justice data reveals that Dyfed-Powys Police convicted or cautioned 95 people in the 12 months to June, either for possession of a knife as a weapon or threatening someone with one.

Of those 20, or 21 per cent, had at least one previous offence for carrying a knife, and four of the criminals had three or more past offences.

However, that figure has decreased by five per cent since 2014-15, bucking the national trend.

Across England and Wales the number of knife criminals who have reoffended has risen. Police bosses say this could be down to improved identification techniques.

Patrick Green, chief executive of anti-knife charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said the figures were “deeply depressing” and showed enforcement cannot prevent knife crime on its own.

“This indicates we cannot rely solely on enforcement if we are going to tackle the small but significant number of habitual reoffenders,” he said. “These are people who are stuck in a spiral of violent crime.”

Mr Green said treating knife crime as a public health issue, which is beginning to be adopted in some parts of the country, could start to tackle the “underlying causes of knife crime”.

Across England and Wales the number of reoffenders increased by 35 per cent over the last three years.

In Dyfed-Powys, in 2017-18, eight children were charged with knife offences. This was a 20 per cent drop on 2014-15.

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