Nottingham and knife crime: concerning rise in knife-related offences

By Zafira Costello

In the city previously known as ‘Shottingham’, is a new nickname on the horizon?
With a noticeable rise in violent crimes in Nottingham over the last few months, public
discourse has led to a debate over the city’s new nickname: Stabbingam. Multiple incidents
since February are only a few in the rising knife crime rates across the UK and highlights the
increase in youth involvement, calling for immediate action to prevent teenagers from easily
purchasing knives and sharp objects online.
Nottinghamshire Police reported that knife crime in the county had fallen by 10.5% between
January and December 2024 in comparison to knife crime between January and December 2023. However, with multiple knife-related incidents in the city over the span of only a few days, there lies a single question: will knife crime ever cease to exist in Nottingham?

Knife-related incidents in Nottingham.
A 17-year-old boy was stabbed in Primark, Long Row on 23 February and was said to have
suffered from serious injuries, but they were not believed to be life-threatening. A 16-year-old
boy was later arrested and has now been charged with possession of a bladed article in a
public place and wounding with intent.
On the evening of February 28th, officers were called to a stabbing at a house party in
Hounds Gate, with a 17-year-old boy taken to hospital for serious injuries. Two other
teenagers – a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy – also sustained injuries. Five individuals
were arrested shortly after the stabbing on suspicion of affray. Police confirmed that another
two teenagers, said to have been the other injured parties, had been arrested and were in
custody, also on suspicion of affray.
A month later, two men were injured in a knife fight on Cornwall Road, Arnold in the early
morning of April 3. Reported to be in their twenties and thirties, they were taken to hospital
and their injuries are believed to be non-life threatening. A witness to the incident said the
two men could be overheard arguing in the street, and later commented to the Nottingham
Post: “They used to call us Shottingham. Now it should be called Stabbingham.”

The police response.
With a number of knife-related incidents in the span of a few weeks, Nottinghamshire Police
have increased their “high-visibility patrols” in hot spots around the city in efforts to reassure
the public. Assistant Chief Constable Suk Verma said: “The last thing we want is for the
public to feel that Nottingham is an unsafe place to visit. Knife crime continues to reduce
across the city and county and we do not want three incidents over a matter of days to deter
people from coming to our city.”
He continued to stress that there has been significant progress in efforts to reassure the
public of police presence in the city, and officers are continuing to make arrests in relation to
all knife-related incidents that have been reported.

Chief Inspector Karl Thomas, from the Nottinghamshire Police Knife Crime Team, said:
“Reducing knife crime is a force priority and the proactive patrols, stop and searches and
weapons seizures carried out by this team are a vital part of these efforts.” Thomas
acknowledged the importance of education and prevention in the journey to tackling knife
crime and stated that the force’s specialist schools and early intervention officers have gone
into schools and informed children and young people of the dangers of knife crime.

The role of public bodies in tackling knife crime.
Knife crime offences have long been a national priority and the establishment of the Knife
Crime Team for Nottinghamshire Police emphasises the importance of tackling these
offences. However, the families of knife crime victims have blasted the police, NHS and
other social services for their inaction, claiming these agencies had failed many victims of
knife crime before their deaths.
In August 2022, Rudi Marriott attacked his father, Brenton Marriott. His family had repeatedly
called the police as Rudi became increasingly violent and concerns grew about his mental
health. They hoped that mental health services would become involved and he could receive
the support he needed. However, their pleas for help were ignored and Rudi stabbed his
father 75 times. He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and a domestic
homicide review highlighted the failure of authorities in addressing his family’s concerns
about his mental state.
The death of Brenton Marriott is one of many instances where authorities have failed to take
action and address concerns about the mental state of individuals, whether they have been
reported by families and friends or healthcare professionals. Marriott’s family claims that the
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust had failed them, and the Nottingham attacks in the
summer of 2023 could have been prevented if authorities had listened.
In June 2023, two students and a school caretaker were stabbed by Valdo Calocane, who
suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. A review by the Care Quality Commission examined
how the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust had handled the care of
Calocane, and revealed that risk assessments had omitted details about Calocane’s refusal
to take his medication. Details also emerged that Calocane had been previously detained in
hospital on four different occasions under mental health laws in the lead up to the attacks.
It is clear that further inquiries must be pursued into the actions and competence of public
bodies involved in the handling of knife crime cases and instances where the perpetrator is
known to the police and mental health services. The processes and standards of these
bodies must be drastically improved, and authorities must take action to prevent a
recurrence of these tragedies.

An approach to preventing knife crime.
The rise in violence has called attention to the prevalence of youth involvement in knife
crime offences and campaigners are urging for restrictions to be placed on retailers to
prevent younger people having easy access to weapons. Calls for both youth and knife
crime interventions come in light of the worrying rise in violence across the country and a
demand for tougher measures regarding the easy accessibility to knives.

However, whilst campaigners address the need for the implementation of harsher restrictions
on retailers, they also highlight the need to focus on the underlying root causes of knife
crime. Research conducted on youth involvement in knife crime has drawn a link between
adverse childhood experiences, mental health problems, and unaddressed trauma to
increased youth involvement in knife crime. Authorities must adopt a multi-agency approach
to tackle the continuous rise in youth and knife crime, identifying the risk factors of
involvement in knife crime and providing significant support for young people before they
enter the cycle of crime.