A knife crime was committed almost every day on average in Waltham Forest last year, it has emerged.

Police in the borough recorded 350 offences, including 144 stabbings.

A Freedom of Information request by the Guardian to both the Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance Service (LAS) showed there were 3,410 reported stabbings and 53 deaths from knives in London last year. 

However, the Met refused to reveal how many people had been killed by a knife in Waltham Forest, claiming releasing the information "could identify family members and cause them mental and/or physical harm." 

The London Ambulance Service said 92 of the 2,074 incidents it attended relating to weapon injuries in the capital last year were in Waltham Forest.

The number of victims is likely to be much higher as there may have been more than one casualty in an incident. 

Of the 92 incidents in Waltham Forest, 45 of the victims were aged under 24 and under. 
There were two reported stabbings within 24 hours  in Walthamstow this week.

A man in his 20s was left in a critical condition after reportedly being stabbing in a car parked in Borwick Avenue on Monday evening.

Police were called to Gaywood Road on Tuesday evening to reports of a stabbing and a man in his 30s was treated by paramedics for leg injuries.  

There has been at least six reported stabbings across Waltham Forest this year. 

Last month, a man was stabbed during broad daylight in the chest and arms in Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow on February 27. 

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Forensics team carrying out a search in Coppermill Lane at the junction with Blackhorse Road

Just hours before, another man was chased by three attackers and collapsed from a leg knife wound in the shop doorway of Noted Eel and Pie House in Leytonstone High Road.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

Officer at the scene of the Pie and Mash stabbing in Leytonstone

Police for appealed for information in early February after a 17-year-old cyclist was left for dead during a frenzied attack in Brookscoft Road at the junction with Kitchener Road in Walthamstow. 

The teenager was repeatedly stabbed from behind is his arms, legs and back. 

Also, in February, three men were hospitalised with knife injuries after an incident outside Tesco in Forest Road, Walthamstow. 

In neighbouring Redbridge, there were 288 reported knife incidents last year, with 90 related injuries. 

Detective Inspector Mason Mills for Redbridge police has said knife crime is not on the rise. 

He said: "In general terms, Redbridge does not suffer from knife enabled crimes as much as some other areas of London and knife crime on the whole is reducing.

"Redbridge is outstripping the overall Metropolitan Police performance, with a current reduction of 11 per cent, incidentally Waltham Forest, whilst not quite as good a Redbridge, is still better than the Met average with a 7 per cenr reduction."

Borough Commander for Waltham Forest Chief Superintendent Mark Collins has been approached to comment.