Police 'doubled their efforts' against knife crime in Merseyside after Ava White case

A senior officer has said that police "doubled their efforts" in the battle against knife crime in Merseyside, following the death of Ava White.

Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) of Merseyside Police, Jonathan Roy, said: "It's absolutely something you never want to see in the streets of Merseyside".

He made the comments during a scrutiny meeting held by Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell at Knowsley Council.

Ava was just 12 years old when she was stabbed in Liverpool City Centre while attending the Christmas lights switch on in November 2021.

She was taken to Alder Hey Hospital, but later died from her injuries.

Since then a 14-year-old boy has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ava, but did admit possessing an offensive weapon in the city on the day she died.

He will face trial in May in relation to Ava White's death.

According to police data, around 80 cases of knife crime were recorded as of December 2021.

Louise Kane, head of performance and analytics at Merseyside Police, told the meeting that offences had "sat stable" over time but peaked at 140 in October 2021.

She added that in areas such as Knowsley and St Helens, there had been a 50% reduction in cases involving a knife.

ACC Roy said there were examples of positive work being done around knife crime, with a decrease in incidents of around 9% in Liverpool when needle spiking incidents were not taken into consideration as per previous data sets.

He added that was the reason why the force "invest so much" in preventing knife crime among young people and a balance needed to be struck around discussing knife crime and avoiding potentially increasing fear among communities when doing so.