ONLY one in every 20 criminals convicted by Thames Valley Police for possessing knives, guns or other weapons are sentenced to at least a year in prison.

Ministry of Justice statistics show that 20 out of the 388 people convicted for weapons possession offences last year were handed prison time of 12 months or more.

In fact, more offenders received a community order, 155 in total.

Out of the 608 suspects Thames Valley Police brought to court, 64 per cent were convicted.

Weapons possession offences include having a gun, knife or bottle of acid in public, and more serious crimes include threatening someone with blades or firearms or taking them to schools.

Currently the minimum sentence is a community order and the maximum is four years' imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offence.

However, in June new guidelines will come into place making the minimum sentence six months in custody.

In 2017, just five of those convicted received a sentence of four years or more.

If the defendant was sentenced for two separate offences, the data combines their custodial time.

Of the total, 138 weapons trials were dealt with at crown court, indicating they are the most serious offences. The rest were seen at magistrates' court where the maximum sentence is six months' imprisonment.

Of those cases held at crown court, 59% were convicted.

Patrick Green, chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust, a charity which aims to raise awareness about knife crime, said it was 'important that we send a message that we are not going soft on offenders'.

He added: "The average custodial sentence for carrying a knife in Scotland is almost twice that of England and Wales. Knife crime is falling in Scotland and rising in England and Wales.

"But it's critically important that we stop people carrying knives in the first place, we cannot police our way out of this.

"Education should be our first port of call and if offenders go on to carry knives there should be strong consequences. It is unclear from these figures whether that is the case."

Mr Green explained that the two strike rule meant that people caught with knives would only face a custodial sentence on the second offence.

"What the public want to see from non-custodial sentences is a low reoffending rate. The public needs to see that young people are not going to continue carrying knives."