A LEADING consultant at a Southampton hospital's casualty department has backed the Daily Echo's campaign to get knives off the streets.

John Heyworth, a consultant at Southampton General Hospital's accident and emergency department, said the number of people coming in with stab wounds has rocketed in the city.

And he warned that there was a very real chance more people would be killed as a result of knife attacks.

He said: "We welcome the Daily Echo's campaign as carrying a knife and using a knife has become a worrying trend compared to a few years ago, but now it is very common.

"There are far more incidents now than before and although people are being killed there are a lot more who are coming into the emergency department with knife injuries.

"The range of injuries from a knife vary from superficial cuts and stab wounds to those which are far more serious and sometimes fatal and a lot of it is to do with chance.

"Knife wounds to the chest, abdomen, limbs and face may seem quite superficial but people who are using the knives have no idea what damage they are causing."