LONDON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Knife crime reached an all-time high in Britain in 2018, with its capital the hardest hit as people described London's blade offences as a "disease", official figures revealed Thursday.
The British Office for National Statistics said that 14,725 knife crimes, including 74 homicides, were committed in London during 2018 after a one percent rise in offending over the year.
The total is one of the highest on record for London and only a fraction below the peak of 14,987 recorded in comparable annual statistics published six months ago.
Statistics for England and Wales showed knife offending at the highest level ever recorded, with more than 40,000 such offences in 2018.
London accounts for a third of all knife crimes in the country and the city has played a key role in taking the national total to its new peak.
There were 75 offences of attempted murder using a blade, 749 threats to kill with a knife, and 5,145 knife crimes which either resulted in injury or involved an attempt to inflict serious harm on the victim, according to the latest figures.
Record levels of knife crime, which in London included 169 rapes or sexual assaults and 8,513 robberies carried out with a blade, are likely to remain the focus of public concerns.
