Police have issued a stark warning after a teenage boy was locked up when he was caught with a knife.
A 14-year-old boy from Hulme was stopped by officers after he was seen discarding a black rucksack when he saw police on patrol nearby.
Retrieving the backpack, police found a large red kitchen knife.
The teenager was arrested but failed to provide officers with any explanation as to why he was carrying the large weapon.
Appearing at Manchester and Salford Youth court yesterday (March 4), the teenage boy was given a four month custodial sentence.
Posting on social media, officers for GMP Chorlton and Didsbury reinforced the dangers of carrying weapons.
"There are no excuses and this may lead to a custodial sentence," they posted.
"The youth was stopped during a pro-active response by the Chorlton Neighbourhood Team led by PC Anderson in tackling knife crime and robbery in the area."
The response was part of Operation Darker Nights, an initiative to combat knife crime.
Since launching in November, police say the operation has helped see a drop of over 50pc of recorded offences compared to the same period the year before.
In addition, officers have placed knife amnesty bins in police stations across all ten of the Greater Manchester districts as part of Operation Sceptre.
Last month, it was reported that almost 1,000 knives and other bladed weapons have been handed in over the course of just five months.
