The mother of a murdered teen has praised police after they removed nearly 400 knives from the district’s streets in the past three years.

However, Caroline Shearer, whose son Jay Whiston, 17, was stabbed to death outside a house party in 2012, said more needs to be done to tackle knife crime.

Figures released by Essex Police under the Freedom of Information Act show the force has seized more than 950 deadly weapons in Braintree since 2012.

Last year, police booked at least 149 knives into evidence rooms, compared with 101 in 2012/2013.

In the wake of her son’s murder, Mrs Shearer set up charity Only Cowards Carry and now runs workshops in schools across the county, teaching pupils as young as six about the consequences of knife crime.

Mrs Shearer said the rising number of knives being seized showed the scale of the problem.

She said: “That’s just the ones you find out about, they are the ones the police have stopped.

“I think they have always carried them, but this is the turning point.

“The police have done a good job and of course they want to get knives off the streets, but I think their hands are tied at times.”

See this week's Braintree and Witham Times for the full story.