Enough to make your blood chill

I apologise again, for printing an article in it's entirety, but it contains lots of statistics and a story to make your blood chill...........

"A young mum confronts her neighbour wielding a samurai sword in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.

The mum-of-two, aged 24, who has a third weapon stuffed into her jeans, screams threats and waves the deadly blades as her six-year-old daughter stands at her side.

As the sickening scene unfolds, a group of youths hurl abuse at the unemployed single mum, who only backs off when someone shouts that the police are coming.

As she retreats, one ned shouts: "You f*****g junkie cow. I hope you fall and stab yourself."

The mum, who lives with her daughter and two-year-old son in Toryglen on Glasgow's south side, was arrested and charged soon after the incident on Thursday night. She appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday where she pled not guilty to breach of the peace and three offences of knife possession.

Leaving court, the woman wept when asked to explain her behaviour.

She said: "I was just trying to defend my children. If you live where I do, you need to stand up for yourself or die.

"The couple down the stairs from us had been fighting and I tried to break it up because my six-year-old daughter was playing and I had my two-year-old son in the pram and I didn't want them to see the fight. But the guy then came at me, pushed me and told me he was going to murder me, then he pulled out a knife.

"I went upstairs and grabbed the samurai sword and the kitchen knife, then went out to face him - I wasn't going to let anyone talk tome like that.

"He lunged at me with his knife, but I came right back at him with mine and he ran away.

"There was some other teenagers around and they were shouting and swearing at me. Then the police came and I was taken and thrown in the cell."

She added: "It's a dog-eat-dog world and you need to defend yourself. The police aren't going to do anything for you where I live.

"The samurai sword looks the part but you could snap it in two - that's why I took the kitchen knife. This guy attacked me in front of my children and pushed over the pramholding my baby son.

"My life is being turned upside down by the whole thing. I still have to live upstairs from these people but I am too scared to go home now."

The pictures are from a video clip filmed on a mobile phone and passed to the Record by a shocked neighbour who didn't want to be named.

He said: "People should know what is really going on in Scotland's communities.

"This street is totally wild. I just want to move out of the place as soon as possible.

"There are fights every day. If the police don't show up on any given night, you begin to wonder if something is wrong.

"This young woman has her problems, but there is no excuse for this kind of thing. She claims she was trying to defend her kids, but what could be worse than them seeing their mum like that?

"Knife culture is out of control. Anyone who isn't involved is scared to come out of their house - it is a nightmare."

Figures published last month showed nearly 300 crimes involving lethal weapons committed over one week in Scotland.

The rate of knife crimes - including murders and serious assaults - stands at a staggering 15,000 a year.

The findings, which equate to 40 knife incidents every day, were based on every blade crime committed in Scotland during a seven-day period.

The study showed a total of 280 blade offences, with Scotland's largest police force, Strathclyde, suffering the highest incidence with 227.

Of these, 103 were charges of possessing a knife - but 124 were on a sliding scale of violence and included murder involving a samurai sword. Other crimes involving knives included 13 attempted murders, 51 serious assaults and 59 simple assaults.

Knife crime represented nearly a sixth of all the 798 violent crimes committed over the week.

The latest statistics show that more than half of all murders committed in the Strathclyde force area involve knives.

The figures indicate that, of the 73 murders reported in Strathclyde between 2006 and 2007, 40 involved a knife - that's 55 per cent of all killings.

Of 380 attempted murders, 208 involved a knife, while a third of the 4050 serious assaults involved a blade.

Rates of murder with a knife in Scotland are 3.5 times higher than in England and Wales. Last month, as part of Strathclyde Police's Campaign Against Violence, officers seized thousands of knives and other weapons from the Stuff shop in Glasgow city centre.

The Scottish government announced they were considering a licensing scheme for knife dealers, which would include records of a customer's age and identity.

The Violence Reduction Unit, set up by Strathclyde Police in 2005 but now a Scotland-wide body, was behind changes to bail laws.

Now anyone caught for the second time with a knife is opposed bail in a move which has resulted in a 100 per cent increase per month in those on remand for knife possession.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the VRU, said: "It's not easy but knife crime is a big problem.

"We do need to concentrate on gangs and violence and alcohol, which is inextricably linked to the problem in Scotland, but we should not be afraid to say it will take a generation to fix."

'My samurai sword looks the part but you could snap it in two - that's why I took the kitchen knife as well'"

By John Ferguson And Craig Mcdonald

Thank you to the Daily Record