KNIFE crime in Britain is at "epidemic proportions", a top judge warned yesterday.

Sir Igor Judge voiced deep concern about the "escalating and grave" problem.

The president of the High Court Queen’s Bench Division demanded zero tolerance.

And he insisted ANYONE caught carrying a blade should be prosecuted.

Sir Igor said: "Every weapon carried about the streets, even if concealed, even if not likely or intended to be used, represents a threat to safety.

"It takes a moment of irritability, drunkenness, anger, perceived insult or something utterly trivial like a look, for the weapon to be produced. Then we have mayhem."

Sir Igor, who hit out as he sat with two judges in Court of Appeal hearings, added: "Offences of this kind are reaching epidemic proportions.

"Even if the offender does no more than carry the weapon, courts should bear in mind the harm the weapon might have caused."

His comments follow outrage over new guidelines for judges that say people caught with a knife could escape with a fine or community sentence.

Three out of ten arrests for having a blade end in a warning.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said of Sir Igor’s call: "The Government must wake up to this warning. The lax approach has put the public at risk."

But Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said: "We are taking action. We have doubled the maximum sentence for carrying a knife to four years."

g.wilson@the-sun.co.uk

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