More than 360 knives and bladed items were handed in to police during the week-long knife amnesty held in Devon and Cornwall last month.

The amnesty was part of the ongoing national knife crime reduction initiative Operation Sceptre, which was held over a week in March.

All of the knives and other items surrendered anonymously will be destroyed and cannot now fall into the wrong hands.

In total there were 367 items which were mostly knives or bladed articles but included a handful of other items such as arrow heads and four BB guns.

As with previous amnesties, a lot of domestic knives were binned. Outside of amnesty periods, people with unwanted knives can dispose of them in household waste as long as they are packaged securely so as to avoid handling injuries.

Alternatively they can be deposited along with other bladed items in the metal recycling skip at local reclamation facilities.

If anyone has any queries over bladed items and how to dispose of them, or is concerned about transporting them, they can get in touch with Devon and Cornwall Police via www.dc.police.uk/ClickB4UCall

Superintendent Jeremy Capey said: “The number of knives and bladed items handed in is in line with the last three amnesties.

“People have taken the time and trouble to hand in potentially dangerous items which have now been destroyed.

“As a preventive measure, coupled with increasingly stringent national legislation on the sale of knives, we feel this is proportionate and helpful in maintaining a much lower level of knife related incidents than in other areas of the country.

“Having said that we are not complacent and would urge anyone who has concerns that a relative of friend may be carrying a knife with no good reason to contact the police.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall Alison Hernandez added: “We’ve all heard about the devastating damage knives do to people and communities and I’d like to thank all of those who have used this opportunity to do the right thing and take a dangerous weapon out of circulation.

“We’re fortunate that Devon and Cornwall remain two of the safest counties in the country and we want to keep it that way.”