More criminals were sentenced or cautioned for knife and weapon offences in Cumbria in the year to March, new figures show.

Knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust said it was a relief to see the numbers drop slightly across England and Wales, but warned that "heinous" knife crime has not gone away.

Ministry of Justice figures show 160 knife and offensive weapon crimes resulted in a caution or sentence in Cumbria in the year to March – an increase of six per cent on the year before.

This means there were 36 offences per 100,000 people in the area, up from 34 the year before.

The figure includes possession of, or threatening with, a knife or other offensive weapon, but do not include all offences, such as murder or assault.

Across England and Wales, an estimated 21,325 knife and offensive weapon crimes resulted in a caution or sentence in the 12 months to March.

This was four per cent fewer than the year before, but was still the third-highest annual figure since current records began in 2010.

In Cumbria, 34 per cent of offenders went straight to prison, the statistics showed.