'End this growing knife crime crisis': Demand for action after another two fatal stabbings

That is the view of a Black Country MP, who believes more must be done to halt the out-of-control violent crimewave that has shook the West Midlands this year.

It comes after a man was stabbed to death in Wolverhampton in the early hours of Friday morning, marking the latest tragedy in a bloody year that has seen a rising tide of violence hit the region’s streets.

Just 24 hours later a second man was fatally stabbed in Brierley Hill.

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden said: “This is part of a pattern which has seen violent crime rising, with the number of young victims in the West Midlands almost doubling over the past five years.

“It is a growing crisis and we have to do more to try to combat it.

“It is appalling to see so many lives cut short in this way. Society cannot be asked to tolerate the levels of knife crime that are taking place and I believe that tackling this must be a top priority for Government.”

Mr McFadden was part of a cross-party delegation of West Midlands MPs who recently met with Home Secretary Sajid Javid to raise concerns about the rise in violent crime.

His Labour colleague, Wolverhampton North East MP Emma Reynolds, who was also present at the meeting, today spoke of her sadness at the latest slaying.

“It is shocking and sad news. My thoughts are with the family,” she said.

“We need to give the police the time and space they need to investigate what happened.”

In the last year the West Midlands has seen its biggest increase in knife crime in a decade, with 2,850 serious crimes involving blades recorded in the year to April.

The figure represents a 19 per cent spike on the previous year and the highest since 2010.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), knives were involved in 23 homicides, 20 rapes, four sexual assaults and 50 threats to kill last year.

And in the last five years the number of knife crimes involving young people has doubled across the region, while the E&S recently revealed that 55 knife attacks take place in the West Midlands each week.

This year alone West Midlands Police has recorded more than 40 serious stabbings, 13 of which have been fatal.

They include Raneem Oudeh, 22, and her mother Khaola Saleem, 49, who were found with fatal stab wounds outside an address in Northdown Road, Solihull, in August.

The early months of the year were particularly deadly.

In January four people were killed in incidents involving knives.

Khalid Yousef, 28, was killed in Birmingham, 23-year-old Jaskaran Kang was stabbed to death in Dudley, Rezwan Ali, 19, was knifed to death in Walsall, and eight-year-old Mylee Billingham was stabbed to death by her father William Billingham in Walsall.

Last month Fidel Glasgow, 21, the grandson of Specials star Neville Staple, was knifed to death outside a nightclub in Coventry.

In May, teenager Keelan Wilson died from knife wounds after he was found stabbed on Langley Road, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton.

The same month saw Ozell Pemberton, 16, stabbed to death in broad daylight in Sutton Coldfield. This year’s tragic deaths followed on from a series of knife killings in 2017.

They included 24-year-old Ryan Passey, who died from a knife wound after an argument broke out in a Stourbridge nightclub in August of that year.

And Reagan Asbury, 19, was stabbed to death by Tyrone Andrew, 21, in the midst of a violent brawl outside Walsall Town Hall in October 2017.

Over the last 12 months the West Midlands has seen the country’s biggest spike in knife crime outside London.