A rising level of prosecutions for carrying knives has prompted a call for a fresh Cumbrian weapons amnesty – and better education about the deadly potential of such weapons.

It was a year ago today that Carlisle schoolboy Jordan Watson was brutally stabbed to death.

A popular and caring 14-year-old, he was lured to Upperby Cemetery late at night by weapons fanatic George Thomson, 19, who wanted Jordan out of the way because he was obsessed with his girlfriend.

Thomson was helped by his friend Brahnn Finley, 19, and both were convicted of the schoolboy’s murder.

A second man who also helped Thomson, 20-year-old Daniel Johnston, was convicted of manslaughter. All three are currently serving jail terms.

With the tragedy still fresh in the minds of all who were affected by it, the Ministry of Justice has published its latest statistics on prosecutions for carrying knives in public.

In Cumbria in the year to the end of March, 152 people in the county were prosecuted for having a knife in a public place – 15 more cases than in the same period last year.

That represents an 11 per cent increase in prosecutions.

“Knife crime is threatening our communities,” said Cumbrian MP Tim Farron, who leads the Liberal Democrats.

“I am extremely concerned that it is on the rise here in Cumbria. We need an amnesty to help get these dangerous weapons off our streets. These have been shown to be effective in the past.

“In the long-run, this shows why we must protect our police numbers from government cuts. Knife crime will make local residents, particularly the elderly, afraid to go out on the streets.”

Mr Farron, the county’s South Lakes MP, said there should be more done to educate young people who are perhaps most at risk of being drawn into a dangerous knife culture.

“We should be working with schools and youth groups,” he said. “We need to make people more aware of the potentially horrific consequences of carrying these weapons. It’s said that those carrying knives are more likely to be hurt themselves.

“Then there are the legal consequences. It can lead to a long custodial sentence, and that has a long-term impact on a person’s life.

“As we know, this is an issue that does not affect just places like Manchester, Newcastle, and London.”

Carlisle MP John Stevenson said he would support any initiative which takes such dangerous weapons out of circulation.

He said that crimes such as the murder of Jordan Watson were thankfully rare in Cumbria, but he added:

“We all need to be vigilant that we don’t allow a culture of crime and violence to develop in any way.”

While the police in Cumbria take knife crime seriously, a senior officer says the figures needed to be looked at in context. Superintendent Justin Bibby said: “We take all incidents involving knives very seriously but our experiences in Cumbria tell us that whilst we have had to deal with some well documented tragic events, we do not believe there is a growing knife crime culture in the county.

“The overall figures do show a rise but it is important to understand that a significant amount of this type of crime is either domestic-related using household cutlery or involves people engaged in drug supply activity.

“This does not lessen the seriousness of the offending, far from it, but it does help people understand that it doesn’t always correlate to crimes that put the general public at risk. Knife crimes involving an offender who does not know the victim are rare.

“In April, the force held a weapons surrender where we received 218 knives from across the county. It gave people the opportunity to get rid of bladed weapons to stop them falling into the wrong hands and we will look to hold more in the future.”

The latest figures on knife possession prosecutions include:

February: Thug Darren Lee Johnson, 39, held a knife to the throat of a woman during a daytime street robbery in Carlisle. It happened on Welsh Road, Harraby. Johnson was jailed for five years.

February: Robert Phillips, 29, and Tony Lockwood, 20, were jailed for the knife-point robbery of a woman in Close Street, Carlisle. They were jailed for eight years and six years respectively.

June: A 15-year-old girl was stabbed and seriously wounded in Barepot, Workington in an unprovoked attack. A man has denied attempted murder