Feral knife gangs with foot-long blades have left our city looking like ‘80s New York – even Deliveroo drivers get hit
DELIVERY riders have become moving targets for knife attackers in a city where violent crime is rapidly spiraling out of control.
Terrified residents in Cardiff claim some streets now look like “1980s New York” after blade offences across Wales tripled over the last decade.
They explain how the capital is being terrorised by “feral” county lines gangs operating from phone boxes, protecting their drug stashes with foot-long blades.
Meanwhile, cyclists working for Deliveroo say they live in fear of being pulled off their bikes and robbed at knifepoint by opportunistic thugs.
One worker in Cardiff, south Wales, was attacked by a gang of three knife-carrying teenagers as he collected a takeaway meal from a restaurant and repeatedly stabbed.
The rider, who also had his £1,500 bike stolen in the late night attack on Excelsior Road, needed hospital treatment to save his arm.
The courier’s best friend, Ali, who is also a Deliveroo rider, spoke of the terror gripping the company’s workforce.
Ali, 23, said: “We’ve become mobile targets for these guys.
“We don’t carry money, but our bikes are valuable and that’s what they’re after.
“My friend had just picked up an order and as he got back on his bike and started to move away, he was ambushed by three guys carrying these huge knives.
“They grabbed him and pulled him off his bike, then one of them stabbed him right through his upper arm.
“After that, they stole his bike and made off into the night. They were never caught.
“It’s a constant fear for us. I know other couriers who have been attacked by gangs with knives and had their bikes stolen. Often, they’ll steal the food too.
“We’re not paid well enough to have to deal with this s***.
“It’s become such a dangerous job now. We need more protection from the company and from the police.”
Surge in knife crime
The latest Office for National Statistics data reveals that knife crime in Wales has almost tripled since 2013.
Between April 2013 and March 2014, there were 598 reported offences with a knife.
By October 2021 to September 2022 — the most recent available data— that figure had skyrocketed, nearly tripling to 1,574.
The numbers include 11 attempted murders involving a knife, 261 threats to kill offences involving a knife, 998 assaults with injury and assault with intent to cause serious harm offences involving a knife, 33 offences involving a knife in terms of rape and sexual assault, and three homicides.
In a shocking case from 2020, South Wales Police revealed they had rescued a man snatched from Splott before being held at knife point, in what was described as one of the UK’s most complicated kidnap investigations in recent times.
During the investigation weapons including six knives, five live rounds of ammunition, a handgun, a grenade smoke bomb, and a taser disguised as a telephone were seized.
Nine men were convicted last year and given a total prison sentence of 116 years.
In 2018, shocking footage showed teenage gangs wielding axes and hammers as they clashed outside a primary school.
The footage, filmed in the Cardiff suburb of Whitchurch, showed the youths squaring up in broad daylight while brandishing deadly weapons as parents picked their children up from school.
Ged Bermingham has been campaigning for more protection for the public and tougher sentences for those convicted of knife crime since losing his brother, Adrian, 20 years ago this month.
Royal Marine Adrian was preparing to be deployed to Iraq when he was stabbed to death in Cardiff as he made his way home after a night out on June 20, 2004.
At the time, knife crime was far more common across the border in Bristol or further afield in London.
“Knife crime just wasn’t a thing in Wales back then, or at least that was the perception,” Ged tells The Sun. “But since Adrian died, it has become a massive problem here.
We want our streets back. After all, this is Cardiff, not Harlem
Shop worker Robert Brooks
“The tripling of knife crime across Wales over the last 10 years makes me immensely sad. It is such a depressing statistic.
“There’s been a big argument raging in Wales this year about the Welsh government imposing 20 miles per hour [speed limits] on most roads in towns and cities throughout the country, but they have done nothing to tackle knife crime, which is having a far greater impact on people’s lives.
“The lack of action is frankly an insult to my brother’s memory, and to all the other families that have lost loved ones.
“The cynical side of me is inclined to think there’s no motivation to tackle knife crime because the government can’t make money out of it, but speeding fines earn them a fortune.”
Dealers in phone boxes
The alarming figures coincide with a drop in the number of police officers in England and Wales by about 20,000 since 2010.
Offences recorded by South Wales Police, the force that covers Cardiff, were the highest of any Welsh region, though did not mark the largest increase overall.
Dyfed-Powys recorded an increase from 40 to 163 (a rise of 307.5 per cent) offences, Gwent an increase from 78 to 376 (382 per cent), North Wales from 135 to 316 (134 per cent), South Wales saw an increase from 345 to 719 (108 percent).
On the streets of Cardiff, locals and business owners said the link between knives and drugs is strong.
Jason, 53, who runs a store on a busy street in the centre of the town, said: “There’s a BT phone kiosk in the street that is used for dealing drugs.
“You see the dealers standing by it pretending to charge their phone up while doing the deals, or waiting for they next stash to arrive via county lines.
“Either way, they need their knives to protect their stash. If they crack down on drugs, they’ll reduce knife crime.
“But it’s also become a must-have for young men in other situations. I had to work hard at encouraging my teenage daughter to socialise after lockdown and now when she goes out she says a lot of lads carry knives everywhere.
“They’re not little pocket knives either, they’ve got these foot-long army knives. It’s becoming part of their identity.”
Shop worker Robert Brooks, 50, said sentences need to be “way, way tougher” on anyone convicted of knife crime.
He said: “Just carrying a knife shows intent and if the judges start locking them away for long stretches, the knife crime rates will soon come tumbling down.
“Anyone injuring someone with a knife should get 20 years, mandatory, in my opinion.
“If they use a knife, they need to know they’ll pay the consequences. Long jail sentences are the best deterrent.
“We want our streets back. After all, this is Cardiff, not Harlem.”
Another local, a musician called Alrick, 50, blames youth centre cut-backs.
He said: “When they started closing the youth clubs, the kids suddenly had nowhere to go and no adults supervising them.
“As a result, they got bored and looked for trouble. They became feral gangs with no purpose, other than trying to out-macho each other and that meant carrying these big knives.
“It’s tough for lads nowadays. If they take a girl out, they’ll come across a gang taking the Mickey and when that happens, a guy feels like he’s got to step up and if he’s got a knife, he’ll have more confidence. They think they’re protecting themselves.”
Sara John, 39, has lived on the streets of Cardiff for the past 20 years and says she has seen knife crime “go mental” in recent times.
She said: “I live at street level and I see it all. I see teenage boys hiding their knives down their trousers. They’re ready to use them when they have to.
“I see them robbing people at knifepoint late at night. Sometimes they even threaten us homeless people with knives because they think we’ve got a bit of cash left from the day. It’s becoming terrifying now.”
Fight for change
Ged, who has a grown-up daughter and runs a motor business, has worked tirelessly to campaign for change through a charity he established following his brother’s death, called Cardiff Against Knife Crime.
Like Alrick, he cites the closure of many of the country’s youth clubs and centres for the rocketing rise in knife crime.
Since 2010, 750 – almost 70 per cent – have shut and 4,500 youth work jobs have been lost across England and Wales.
Ged said: “It certainly hasn’t helped the situation. If these young people have nowhere else to go and no purpose, they’ve got nothing to latch on to, so they turn to crime and county lines gangs.
“The drug culture is no longer underground. It’s right in front of you, under your nose. You need to grab these young people early enough before it becomes something worse.
“They need victims and perpetrators of knife crime to go into schools and educate young children about the stupidity of carrying knives. We need to make them see it’s not a good path.
“Let’s have surgeons who deal with the consequences of knife crime all the time now going into schools and showing them images of what these weapons can do.”
I see them robbing people at knifepoint late at night. Sometimes they even threaten us homeless people with knives
Sara John
He adds: “I think knives have become so commonplace because they give young men an illusion of appearing macho.
“Others carry them because they’re scared that if they don’t, they won’t be able to protect themselves against someone who is carrying a blade. They don’t want to be vulnerable. How messed up is that?
“Let’s get these young men into boxing clubs so they can learn better ways of defending themselves. It’s much better to be able to punch your way out of an attack.
“These resources are all there, but we need the politicians and educators to put work in to make these solutions happen.”
Police ‘priority’
Superintendent Esyr Jones of South Wales Police told The Sun that tacking knife crime causes is an “absolute priority” and urged anyone with information about knife incidents crime to contact the police or Crimestoppers.
He said: “Levels of knife offences in the UK have risen over the last few years, and South Wales is no different to anywhere else in that respect.
“Thankfully, levels of those offences remain lower here than many other parts of the UK, and, generally, South Wales is a safe place to live, to work, and to be.
“We are here to keep people as safe as possible, and – under the banner of Operation Sceptre – our teams are working hard every day to reassure our communities and to disrupt the small minority who are intent on carrying knives, especially where the most vulnerable are put at risk.
“Our dedicated Op Sceptre teams are having a really positive impact, and we are also using stop-search in a fair and proportionate manner to ensure our streets are as safe as possible.
“However, we are also determined to address the root causes of knife crime and are working closely with the Wales Violence Prevention Unit and other partners – including education services and trading standards – as part of a public health approach to the issue of knife crime, to prevent people from carrying knives in the first place.”
Let’s have surgeons who deal with the consequences of knife crime all the time now going into schools
Ged Bermingham
A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: “It’s important to remember that Cardiff is still a very safe city, one of the safest large cities in the UK.
“Nevertheless, any increase in violence or knife crime is something we take very seriously and, as a council, we work with South Wales Police and other partners to build strategies designed to help reduce violent crime.
“Over the past three years, Cardiff’s Community Safety Partnership has prioritised the response to tackling knife crime and is currently working on a Cardiff Without Violence Strategy.
“This document will focus on delivering a number of key objectives designed to deter people, especially young people, from carrying weapons, and to raise awareness of the consequences.
“As a council – through our youth services team and in our schools – we already do lots of work with young people advising them of the dangers and the potential disastrous outcomes that carrying a knife could do to their lives and the lives of others.
“Knife crime can have life-changing consequences and it’s important we all do everything we can to inform young people about those consequences and deter them from being drawn into carrying knives.”