Knife and gun suspects roaming the streets due to overcrowded prisons, 'flabbergasted' Met chief warns
Sir Mark Rowley described the issue as "deeply concerning"
Dangerous suspects facing knife and gun charges are being let out onto the streets due to the overcrowded prisons and struggling justice system, the head of the Metropolitan Police has warned.
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The crisis has led to far fewer defendants accused of knife crime being remanded into custody, leading to offenders being repeatedly charged and bailed over the same offences.
Met chief Sir Mark Rowley claimed the toughening of knife crime and firearms legislation has helped reduce serious crime over the last 25 years, but added that he was "really concerned" about the number of knife suspects being let out on bail.
He referred to one recent example of an individual who tried to take what resembled a small sword, said to be around 18 inches long, into the Notting Hill Carnival.
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He also told the Met’s governing London Policing Board that tough legal curbs on weapons introduced earlier this century were no longer being enforced because of the "massively stretched" justice system.
Sir Mark said: "An overloaded justice system is not executing on the back of those laws in the same way, as the government has to make difficult choices based on prison capacity and other areas.
"We're now seeing the consequences of that.
"We are seeing rapidly reducing imprisonment for people sentenced for knife crime offences, knife crime possession, even repeat knife carriers, so that's going down.
"That is then anticipated at the start of the process, so far fewer are being remanded in custody.
"So routinely now we’re seeing people charged again and again and again with carrying knives, and they're being bailed again and again and again, and that really concerns me."
Referring to the carnival suspect, he pointed out that it was that individual's fourth knife of this year.
"He tries to take something that looks like a small sword into carnival, and he’s been bailed again," the Met Commissioner added.
"That is deeply concerning to me, the message that sends, and that fundamentally undermines offender control."
Sir Mark said the force is also seeing the same pattern with firearm offences, adding: "And I’m flabbergasted by this."
According to Sir Mark, around 34 individuals charged with firearms offences in the city are on bail pending trial.
He said that in nine of those cases, the accused had fired shots in confrontation.
It comes after the Justice Secretary told LBC that it will take at least a decade to end the overcrowding crisis, despite the government preparing to speed up the building of hundreds of extra prison places with £110 million of investment.
Alex Norris told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on Tuesday: "We've got a long way to go yet.
"This is buying us time and breathing space to build this. The Prime Minister has been very clear that he wants ten-year solutions.
"I'm working on a goal that gets us to sustainable prison capacity ten years into the future. I wish predecessors ten years ago had done that, frankly."