Boxing legend Tyson Fury has called for anyone carrying a knife to be castrated after a member of his family was killed by knife crime.
Fury's cousin Rico Burton was stabbed to death in Altrincham on Sunday (21 August), the heavyweight boxing champion announced on Twitter that his cousin had died after being 'stabbed in the neck'.
In a tribute to his cousin he called on the British government to do more to tackle knife crime, including 'higher sentencing'.
A man has been charged with Burton's murder and has since appeared before Manchester and Salford Magistrates' Court.
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Speaking on TalkSport yesterday (24 August), Fury once again called for tougher punishments for those caught carrying knives and suggested some very extreme measures to deal with knife crime.
He said: "What the government needs to do about this knife crime, anyone caught with a knife or stabbing someone needs castrating.
"It cost as a government too much money to house them in a prison. It costs them £60/70,000 a year to put these scumbags in jail. Castrate the little b******s. Castrate them.
"We're supposed to be one of the safest countries in the world but yet we can't go down the street with a watch on or anything because we're going to get stabbed."
The heavyweight champion railed against 'little cowards who carry knives and weapons', asking why any 'little scumbag coward' felt the need to carry a knife around with them.
He also called for prison sentences of between five and seven years for people caught just carrying a knife, the current maximum sentence is four years behind bars.
The latest figures on knife crime in the UK show it's on the rise, with figures released at the end of 2021 indicating that between September 2020 and September 2021 there were 37,589 recorded incidents involving knife crime or offensive weaponry in England and Wales.
That's three percent more than the previous year, but the number of individuals receiving an immediate prison sentence dropped to 28 percent, down from between 36 and 38 percent between 2017 and 2020.
Instead, more people caught carrying a knife have received suspended sentences or community sentences rather than being sent to prison as Fury called for.
When it comes to the punishment of castrating people for carrying knives, the boxer is likely to be met with disappointment as it's not something the UK really does to criminals these days.
The government has regularly spoken of the need to be tougher on knife crime in the UK, but back in 2019 they announced more stop and search powers allowing police officers to search people without 'reasonable suspicion' that they have been breaking the law.
Topics: UK News, News, Crime, Tyson Fury
Joe Harker