Knife gangs forced to meet families of stab victims

The government is set to impose hard community sentences on youths carrying knives, but critics say only prison can tackle the epidemic of violence.

Teenagers caught with knives will be forced to tour casualty units and meet the relatives of stabbing victims, under government plans to combat the glorification of weapons within gangs.

The move to confront those on the verge of more serious offending with the horrific consequences of knife culture comes as new figures show the number of convictions for carrying a knife in schools rose sixfold in a decade, with the vast majority of offenders not jailed.

Under plans to be unveiled by Gordon Brown on Tuesday, young offenders convicted of all crimes will be forced to carry out community service on Friday and Saturday nights, to keep them out of trouble, while pubs and clubs will be fast-tracked for closure if searches reveal their customers routinely carry knives. Parents will face tougher intervention, including being made to attend their children's court cases, and teenagers on the streets late at night will be taken home by police if they are considered in danger.

Chief constables already have powers to press for the closure of pubs involved in violence, although Smith is writing to all 42 forces in England and Wales asking them to exercise those powers. And while trading standards officers will carry out 'secret shopper' checks on whether retailers sell knives illegally to under-16s, only 71 people have been convicted of under-age knife sales in five years despite previous supposed crackdowns.

The Youth Crime Action Plan to be launched by Smith, Brown, Balls and the Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw, will still promote alternatives to custody, such as 'intensive fostering' schemes, where a teenager is placed with foster parents and must behave well in order to earn privileges such as watching television. They will reject calls for an automatic prison sentence for knife possession, with ministers arguing privately that some children carry knives in self-defence because they are frightened by their peers.

Man dies after Bolton stabbing

Paul Gilligan who is in his 30's was found at the Pepper Alley pub in Bolton shortly before 1am with stab wounds and later died in hospital from his injuries.

He is the third victim of knife crime in the region in the past 48 hours.

A 19-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Elsewhere today, a 22-year-old man was in a serious condition after he was found by police with multiple stab wounds at a campsite at the T in the Park music festival in Kinross-shire, central Scotland. Police were interviewing campers and said that they were looking for 2 men likely to have bloodstained clothing.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, announced today that young offenders caught with a knife are to be forced to meet stabbing victims in an attempt to underline the seriousness of carrying a weapon. This would include visits to A&E wards where people are being treated for knife wounds, meetings with the families of stabbing victims and prison visits to offenders jailed for knife offences.

Another victim named yesterday was Yusufu Miiro, a 20-year-old student from Stratford. He was fatally stabbed in the head and chest as he walked up a stairwell towards a friend's flat in St David's Court, Walthamstow, north-east London.

Man fatally stabbed in Bristol

A man believed to be in his 40's was stabbed to death during a disturbance in a residential street in Bristol.

He suffered knife wounds to the head and chest at about 9pm last night in the Withywood area of the city - he died this morning.

two men have been arrested in connection with the incident.