Huge rise in county’s stabbing murders

Dec 30 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

STABBING murders in West Yorkshire rose by 50% last year.

Police figures show that fatal stabbings in the region were up from 10 in 2006-7 to 15 last year.

Figures from police forces in England and Wales obtained by the Tory party also show there were 277 knife murders between April, 2007, and April this year, an average of five a week.

If confirmed, the number will be the highest since records began 30 years ago and represents a rise of 38% since 1999.

The previous highest stabbing total was 265 in 2002-2003 and the death toll for 2006-2007 was 258.

Killings in Kirklees include that of 17-year-old Ahmed Hassan.

The talented Heckmondwike Grammar School A-level student, who lived in Craig Close, Batley. He was stabbed to death at Dewsbury railway station last December.

His killer, Michael Brook, 18, was later jailed for life.