Knives turned into victim sculpture in Oswestry

Sculptor Alfie Bradley will weld every knife to the angel's wings

Tens of thousands of knives from a national amnesty are being turned into a memorial to victims of knife crime.

More than 20,000 blades have already been used in the angel sculpture being created by the The British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire.

West Mercia, West Yorkshire and the Metropolitan Police are involved in the project which needs 100,000 weapons for its completion.

Other forces are being urged to pass on their surrendered weapons.

Each one will feature the name of a victim and will form a feather in the angel's wings.

The 24-ft sculpture will eventually be covered in 100,000 knives

David Shaw, chief constable of West Mercia Police, who visited the sculpture on Friday, said: "Knives often get used in a very spontaneous situation where people don't mean to do damage, they just happen to have a knife with them.

"If we can get those knives taken off [the streets] and prevent some of those tragedies that happen, not just for the families of the victims but the offender and the family of the offender themselves, then we can do some real good with this."

The weapons donated so far include kitchen knives, flick knives, garrotting wires, machetes and even some made in prison cells.