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A record number of people were stabbed to death last year, with more murders linked to drugs. Official statistics show 282 people, including 69 teenagers, died as a result of a knife attack.

It is a 19 percent rise on the previous year and the highest annual total since records began in 1946.

Three in four teenagers killed ­ last year were stabbed, prompting renewed calls “to get a better grip on youth violence”.

Campaigners have warned the number of 16 and 17-year-olds killed with a knife has more than doubled from 10 to 24.

In total, 696 people were killed in the year to March, the second highest total in 10 years.

Over half of murder or manslaughter cases were linked to drugs, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Now, police have increased patrols in hotspots that are known for gang violence and drug dealing.

The ONS said: “The proportion of homicides that have involved drug users or dealers, or have been related to drugs in any way, has increased over the last decade, from 43 percent in the year ending March 2012 to 52 percent in the year ending March 2022.

“In the last year, there were 360 homicides that were thought to involve drug users or dealers or were in some way drug-related, 58 more than the previous year.”

Diana Fawcett, chief executive of charity Victim Support, said: “Murder and manslaughter tear families apart, and can traumatise entire communities.

“While overall homicide rates ­ are similar to before the pandemic, this huge spike in the number of people being killed with a knife is very worrying.

“Certain groups, such as teenage boys, are being disproportionately affected.

“The number of boys aged 16 and 17 killed with a knife has more than doubled – a heartbreaking figure which suggests we need to get a ­better grip on youth violence.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria Kim McGuinness said: “Every time a young life gets taken too soon I pray that it will be the last time.

“I want to be able to really scale up our prevention work and I want a properly funded police force to be out there policing our streets too.”

The Home Office said it plans ­ to reduce the number of murders ­ by tackling domestic abuse and ­ illicit drugs, as well as ensuring ­high-quality treatment “through our ambitious 10-year drugs strategy”.

It was also providing £130million through its network of violence reduction units.

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