IT will be five years in May since Lochgelly man Sean Stark was murdered in a knife attack on Main Street and his family is still campaigning for a tightening of the legislation on control of knives.

They would like to see carrying a knife something which would carry a prison sentence but so far not enough MSPs are prepared to back the idea.

However, our Times Jury this week was in the main sympathetic towards making a stronger deterrent against knife carrying but expressed concern about the capability of the courts and prison system to deal with the extra workload.

The jury was the Coffee Mates group who meet every Friday forenoon at the Lochgelly Baptist Church.

“In days gone by this was less of a problem for if we fell out it would be settled by fists rather than knives,” said one member, “Knives were something that were used in the garden but never on the street.” Another commented, “I think the stop and search idea carried out by police is something which makes a real impact and is a deterrent but the problem is that no matter what is done, if someone, who is probably a bully, is wanting to carry a knife they will do just that and be not bothered what the outcome might be.” There was concern about the court system and prisons being able to cope with the volume of traffic a prison sentence for carrying a knife might cause, “I know that we need some sort of deterrent but the prisons are so overcrowded now they would not be able to house the extra prisoners this sort of legislation could create.” But another contended, “Community service sentences not deter anyone from carrying a knife, there really needs to be a toughening up of the law on this because kids going out carrying a knife do not realise the damage that can be caused.

“They maybe have only taken it out as protection but when something kicks-off sense goes out the window and the knife may be used with catastrophic consequences.” Education of the dangers of carrying a knife to children at schools was something put forward as a potential help, “If children at primary or first or second year are given advice on knife carrying it could help because if you get the message over at an early age it might just stick with them.”