Teesside knife crime campaigners are urging government to do more
Teesside knife crime campaigners say more needs to be done to tackle knife violence.
Knife crime campaigners on Teesside hope the ban on zombie knives will help tackle the issue of knife violence.
From the 24th September, zombie-style knives and machetes will be added to the list of prohibited dangerous items and banned under legislation.
Theresa Cave set-up the 'Chris Cave Foundation' after her son Chris was stabbed to death in Redcar in June 2003.
She said: "I've been saying for years and years that there is no deterrence in the UK. Now Keir Starmer says they’re going to half knife crime within 10 years, half it. That's not good enough. Keir Starmer needs to come down on knife crime right now. Exactly like he has on the riots.
"He needs to bang down on it, get people put in jail, get them straight up into the courts, let other people who are carrying knives see what will happen to them and carry out this ban and carry out this deterrent so others will follow and stop.
"It will only take a few people to be slammed down on and put into jail and let others see that they will not get away with this and then hopefully knife crime will start to at least become lower than it is now.
"It's absolutely urgent that people hand in these machetes and these zombie knives. This should have been done years ago. We've been fighting for this for I don't know how long, yet they're still on the streets. Machetes and the zombie knives are causing more mayhem than anything else.
"By having access to these weapons, people are causing more deaths, more serious injuries and more trauma. Talk to families who are losing loved ones. It's disgraceful. These weapons are absolutely lethal."