Extra police patrols after second Walsall knife attack

Forensic examiners were at the scene of the attack in Pool Street, Walsall, on Monday

A man has been taken to hospital with slash wounds after the second knife attack in Walsall in three days.

The victim, in his 20s, suffered slash wounds after being attacked with a machete and was being treated for his injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.

He was assaulted by a group of men who fled the Pool Street scene just before 20:00 GMT on Monday.

On Saturday, Akeem Francis-Kerr, 29, was fatally stabbed in a nightclub.

Akeem Francis-Kerr was "one of the greatest of men", his family said

Mr Francis-Kerr was killed at Valesha's in the town centre, prompting a murder inquiry.

A few weeks earlier, on 28 January, Bailey Atkinson, 20, was fatally stabbed on Walsall's High Street. Eight people, including boys aged 15 and 17, have been charged with Mr Atkinson's murder.

Bailey Atkinson died from multiple stab wounds in Walsall on 28 January

Following Monday evening's attack an emergency Section 60 order was put in place, giving police the ability to stop and search people within the inner ring road. This was in place until Tuesday morning.

"We understand how concerning the recent incidents of violence in Walsall have been for local communities," West Midlands Police said, adding neighbourhood officers would be carrying out extra patrols over the coming days.

'Trade in blood'

Richard Cooke, chair of the West Midlands Police Federation, told BBC WM knife crime had become "an absolute epidemic", and called for an outright ban on sales of machetes and a tightening of legislation for retailers of potential weapons.

"Let's just stop this trade in blood, essentially, because the retailers are aiming these weapons at young people," he said. "The names of these weapons, they're described as cool, they're coloured in fancy colours such as rainbow knives."

James Brindley was stabbed in the heart near his parents' home in 2017

Conservative Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb, who is raising the issue of knife crime in the West Midlands in a government debate, said she supported the police federation's call for a clamp down on sales.

She read out a statement from the family of Ryan Passey, who said they continued to "suffer daily" following his fatal stabbing in 2017.

"The simple truth is if you carry a knife you're going to end up being the perpetrator, or the victim," Ms Webb said. "I don't want another family in my constituency talking to me about their grief and loss of a child due to knife crime."

Ms Webb told MPs the knife crime rate in the West Midlands had risen by 496% since 2012, to 7,257 incidents a year.

Suzanne Webb told fellow MPs the West Midlands had the highest rate of knife crime in England and Wales

The increased police powers in Walsall coincide with the opening of two new knife amnesty bins in the borough by the family of James Brindley, stabbed to death in Aldridge, near Walsall in 2017.

Mr Brindley's father Mark said the bins, in Caldmore and Palfrey, were designed to get weapons off the street and prompt conversations around knife crime.

"Just having a bin to collect knives is a wasted opportunity, we also want to engage with the community and gather information," he said.

The bins are the second and third to be opened by the James Brindley Foundation in the area, with more planned.