PEOPLE who carry knives and other offensive weapons are being urged to hand them in to police.

Officers in the Cleveland, Durham and Northumbria Police forces are joining the national five-week Government-led amnesty in a bid to cut knife crime.

People handing in knives are asked to wrap them in cardboard or thick paper and put them in bins that will be placed in police stations across the North-East.

Superintendent Peter Woods, of Northumbria Police, said: "We would encourage people to hand in any knife or offensive weapon as every weapon handed in is one which cannot be used in a crime.

"It is illegal to carry a knife and anyone found with one could face up to four years in prison.

"This is a chance for these weapons to be handed in anonymously with the items not normally examined forensically."

The campaign is being supported by Middlesbrough man Thomas Dunne, whose son Robert, died after he was stabbed through the heart with samurai sword in 2003.

Mr Dunne said: "The sooner we can get knives like this off the street the better, because they are lethal in the wrong hands.

"If people have got them then they are tempted to use them, and it has a devastating effect on the families and loved ones who are left behind. They destroy lives."

As part of the campaign to educate youngsters, posters will be put up in all secondary schools on Teesside.

An education pack will be made available to each of the schools.

Chief Inspector Ciaron Irvine, of Cleveland Police, "The continuing culture of young people carrying knives 'for their own protection' can result in disastrous consequences.

"We need to put an end to this attitude. Young people who think they feel safer if they are carrying a knife are in fact putting their lives in danger."