Only a fifth of criminals with knives are now sent to prison

Four out of five criminals caught with a knife are not being jailed immediately, new figures reveal.

Home Secretary Theresa May has said the Government is "absolutely clear" that anybody convicted of possessing a knife should expect prison. Judges have been told to consider a 12-week starting point for the lowest-level offence.

But only 19 per cent of those caught between January and March were jailed, down from 23 per cent in the period last year and in 2009.

Instead 33 per cent were given a community sentence - up two points on last year and three on 2009.

Of the 5,228 offenders caught in the first quarter of this year, just 1,014 were jailed and the proportion receiving longer sentences also fell.

A total of 327 - or 32 per cent - were sentenced to more than six months in prison, down from 34 per cent last year. But the average length of a custodial sentence remained approximately the same, at 207 days - about seven months - compared with 208 last year.