Victims have called for tougher prison sentences after new figures reveal a third of Norfolk's repeat knife crime offenders were spared jail.
A new analysis shows 34pc of the criminals in the county found guilty of at least two knife crime offences have received a suspended sentence in the last five years.
This is despite the government's "two strikes and you're out" pledge in 2015 - promising repeat offenders would face a minimum of a six months sentence.
Included in the data is the case of Rolands Heinbergs, who stabbed to death David Hastings in June 2018, just weeks after he received a suspended sentence for possession of a knife.
The findings - which were uncovered as part of a national survey by the Labour Party - have been met with anger by local victims of knife crime.
Gary Harvey, the landlord of the Berstrete Gates in Norwich, is among those calling for tougher sentences to deter knife crime.
In August 2020, Mr Harvey had to protect a group of students being attacked, with one of the group using a barstool to block knife-wielder Connor Secker, 20.
Mr Harvey said: "It's ridiculous, I've chucked out so many people from here for carrying knives which I've reported to the police.
"It seems like a lot of young people are carrying knives these days.
"There should be tougher sentencing earlier on, if you carry a knife you should be in prison for five years and 10 if you hurt someone - that would really be a deterrent, you can't hurt anyone else then.
"If those boys hadn't run into the pub they could've been seriously hurt or killed, it's frightening.
"I have got 18 grandchildren, aged from their early 20s to 18 months and I worry about what they are being brought up into."
Secker, of Penn Grove, was given 37 months in a young offenders institute in February, having previously admitted affray and having a blade on August 6 last year.
Secker also faced a sentence for a separate incident after he previously admitted three offences of having a bladed article and two of having an offensive weapon in a public place.
Ramanathan Uthayarajan, owner of Jet Garage in Rose Lane - near to where David Hastings was killed - said more needed to be done after three incidents involving guns and knives last year.
"Someone carrying a knife is a danger to everyone," he said.
"The area isn't just clubs anymore, there are families living here now, it makes people scared to go out in the night time.
"More needs to be done to keep the city safe."
Norfolk's police and crime commissioner, Giles Orpen-Smellie - an elected representative setting the county's strategy for reducing crime - acknowledged the issue but said it was for judges to decide on sentences.
“While the government has encouraged the criminal justice system to go tough on knife crime it is ultimately up to the judge to decide what the appropriate sentence is for that person," he said.
“For my own part I do not like knives being carried in public and I think there’s work to do in educating people, particularly school-age people, to say that it is not a good idea."
However, Mr Orpen-Smellie also argued that knife crime was a larger problem in places like London, which suffers from more gang-related crime than Norfolk.
He said that only one of the murders in Norfolk this year was believed to be possibl gang-related.
“The current government is working hard on law and order, that’s why they are recruiting more police officers," he added.
"There is always more that could be done but I think they are doing more than the previous Conservative government.”
He added it would not be possible to comment on individual cases without knowing all the details of the case.
Following their analysis, the Labour Party accused the government of being 'soft on crime'.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Time and again, the Conservatives have broken their promises to tackle knife crime and, to top it all, their record-breaking Crown Court backlog will see even more knife criminals let off and more victims let down."
A government spokesperson said: “While judges decide sentences, those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail than they were a decade ago and new laws will see more repeat offenders face time behind bars.”
David Hastings
David Hastings was 48-years-old when he was stabbed 13 times by a stranger.
Mr Hastings, formerly of Long Row, Norwich, was knifed in his back, chest, neck and mouth, while walking away from Rose Lane car park with his girlfriend in the early hours of June 23, 2018.
Rolands Heinbergs, 23, of no fixed address, had pleaded not guilty to murder but was convicted in just over 50 minutes by the jury of five men and seven women.
Heinbergs had been serving a suspended sentence for possession of knives at the time of the fatal attack.
In court, Mr Hasting's daughter, Kimberley, said "The fact that this man was caught with a knife just a few weeks before he killed my dad but was dealt with so leniently is so hard to take.
"Things could be so different if sentences for knife crime were harsher."
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