Wiltshire mother backs knife amnesty after son's stabbing

Carol Tait is backing the Bin the Blade police campaign

A mother whose son was stabbed in a fight is backing a police campaign to encourage people to give up their blades.

Carol Tait's son Cameron was stabbed and seriously injured three years ago in Calne, Wiltshire after an argument.

She said the surgeon had told her it would be touch-and-go whether he survived and he spent five months in hospital recovering.

Wiltshire Police launched the amnesty in the force area on Monday.

It has put amnesty bins inside churches, community centres and police stations around the county.

Ms Tait has been working with Wiltshire Police to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime and said: "If you're thinking about it, if you've got a knife, get rid of it.

"Don't take it out in your car because if you've got it then you're likely to use it."

Cameron was stabbed with 15cm long hunting knife on 12 November 2018. The knife went into his abdomen and came out the other side.

A 19-year-old man was convicted in May 2019 of causing grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to four years and two months in prison.

Inspector David Tibbetts is helping to run the campaign and said subsequent changes to the law meant it was now illegal to have more weapons than before.

He said people could put their weapons in the bins with no questions asked, and the knives would then be disposed of safely.

"Things like lock knives, zombie knives are now illegal to possess in your home so we'd like people to bring those in and dispose of them safely in the bins," he added.