Justice Secretary Jack Straw backtracks on knife offenders

Jack Straw is accused of back-tracking on rules for knife offenders

But, instead of a review, the rules will come into force next month as planned.

Instead, the Ministry of Justice is promising a 'stock-take' of all Government policy relating to knife crime later in the year.

Critics dismissed that promise and accused Labour of failing to live up to its tough talk on knife crime.

The apparent retreat came as the death toll among youngsters from knife attacks rose further yesterday  -  with two more lives lost in London.

There was also a warning from doctors that children as young as ten are now being treated in emergency wards for stab wounds.

Adding to the evidence that knife crime is now blighting younger and younger lives, it emerged that a boy of 11 has appeared in court accused of pulling a knife on a nine-year-old girl when he was ten.

The rules Mr Straw is accused of back-tracking over were publicly criticised last week by Home Office Minister Tony McNulty who called for a re-think.

Thousands of offenders could escape jail terms.

Mr Straw raised hopes of a review of the Sentencing Guidelines Council rules by saying: 'We will be talking to other ministers about it and we will make an announcement.'

Ministers have the power to order the Council to reconsider if its rules appear too lenient, but last night Ministry of Justice officials admitted the proposals will come into force with no changes.

Instead, officials said, a wider review or 'stock-take' of Government policy on knife crime will be launched later this year.

 A spokesman said there was 'no definitive time-line' for such a review but insisted the Government was taking knife crime very seriously, adding: 'We will consider the need for any changes based on the findings of this stock-take.'

Tory Justice spokesman, Nick Herbert, said: 'Once again we see Labour's carefully chosen tough words simply aren't matched by their actions.'

Yesterday a boy of 14 died in hospital three weeks after being stabbed in Southwark.

David Idowul became the 19th teenager to be murdered in London this year.

A man in his early 20s was stabbed to death outside a disused factory in Bethnal Green, East London.

It also emerged yesterday that a boy has been charged with threatening a girl of nine with a flick knife in the street when he was ten and demanding her games console.

The boy from East London, now 11, was charged with attempted robbery and possession of an offensive weapon. He is due to return to a youth court later this month.

THE TEN-YEAR-OLDS WITH STAB WOUNDS

Childre as young as ten are being treated in hospital for stab wounds, a leading doctor has revealed.

 Accident and emergency staff have seen a large rise in the number of patients injured by knives.

Dr Tunji Lasoye, consultant head of A&E at King's College Hospital in London, said the age range of knife crime victims had 'dropped significantly' over the last three or four years, at the same time as overall numbers of victims had risen.

He said: 'We are now seeing children as young as ten being victims of knife injury.'

Whereas casualty wards once dealt with occasional stabbings at weekends, he said, victims are now arriving in hospital 'nearly every day of the week'.

The proportion of girls wounded has also risen sharply to around 10 per cent.

Figures reveal a huge rise in the numbers presenting with knife wounds to almost 14,000 a year - or 38 a day.

But Dr Lasoye told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'The trouble is these patients are the same ones who are likely to come in in a couple of weeks with even more severe stab wounds.'