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The Express & Star today launches a campaign to change the law on knife crime after a surge in murderous violence at the start of 2018.

Since January 1, there have been 21 serious incidents involving knives, five of which saw people killed.

Among them are Mylee Billingham, aged just eight, who was stabbed to death at her home in Brownhills in January, and Jasmine Forrester, 11, who lost her life after being stabbed at a house in Wolverhampton.

According to official figures the number of deaths caused by knives across the region has risen from 13 in 2015 to 23 last year – a rise of 77 per cent.

And the number of people injured by knives has also increased dramatically, surging from 871 in 2015, to 1,105 last year – the equivalent of three a day.

West Midlands Police recorded 847 knife possession offences in 2016-17 – up a staggering 32 per cent from the year before and the highest number since 2002-3.

In response this newspaper is calling for a change in the law as a matter of urgency.

We have launched a change.org petition calling on Prime Minister Theresa May and Home Secretary Amber Rudd to bring in mandatory prison sentences for anyone caught in possession of an offensive weapon.

Ms Rudd last night vowed that the Tories are being tough on crime and agreed that a new approach was needed to tackle knife crime.

“The old systems don’t always work,” she said.

The Express & Star campaign has been backed by the families of murder victims and prominent local politicians from both major parties.

Chris Melia, the great uncle of schoolgirl Christina Edkins, who was stabbed to death on a bus five years ago, said he supported the campaign.

He said tougher sentences were required to stop ‘the needless anguish and loss of children and their futures’.

Eddie Hughes, Conservative MP for Walsall North, said: “People need to know that if they go out carrying a knife and they get arrested, that the punishment they receive will be severe.” Wolverhampton North East’s Labour MP Emma Reynolds said it was time to ‘increase the penalties and punishments’ for knife crime.

“A knife if it is used to kill is just as deadly as a gun. We need a sea change in young people’s expectations,” she said.

West Midlands Police knife crime lead, Superintendent Ian Parnell, said: “If you carry or use a knife you are likely to be arrested and prosecuted and, if found guilty, likely to face a substantial prison sentence.”

A Home Office spokesman added that the Government’s new Serious Violence Strategy, which is due to be unveiled later this year, will contain ‘tough new laws’ to address crimes involving ‘knives, acid and guns’.

He said: “It will tackle the root causes of the problem and will give young people the skills and resilience to live happy and productive lives away from violence.”