“Carrying a knife has become normalised”, the sister of a stabbing victim has said.

Samantha Madgin was stabbed to death by drink and drug-fuelled Jordan Jobson in Wallsend in 2007.

The 18-year-old suffered ten knife wounds, including a fatal blow to her heart, on her first night out since having her son Callum just ten weeks before.

READ MORE: 'It hurts to know a family feel like us' - Mum of stabbing victim after Holly's death

Samantha’s Legacy – a charity set up by her family – raises awareness of knife crime through workshops and provides support to victims and families.

“It’s been nearly 16 years since we lost Samantha”, said sister Carly Barrett.

“She was such a loving, caring sister. It’s sad to think of the life we would have been living if she was here.”

Carly was just 16 when her sister was murdered and says more needs to be done to combat knife crime.

It comes as new figures show that knife and offensive weapon sentencing has decreased over a three-year period.

Statistics from the Ministry of Justice show that across the Northumbria Police area, the number of offences resulting in a caution or sentence annually from the year ending September has fallen – despite separate figures showing an 11 per cent increase in knife crime over the same period.

Carly added: “People need a deterrent. A person’s choice has massive, devastating consequences for both sides. It’s a ripple effect.

“People need to know that if they’re carrying a knife, something is going to happen to them. People aren’t scared of the police anymore and one day, they’re more than likely going to need the police.

“Carrying a knife or talking about stabbing someone has become normalised.

“I do believe we could have potentially saved lives over the years, but it’s about changing the minds of people as well.”

It comes as a 16-year-old boy from Gateshead, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is expected to appear in court in the coming months charged with murdering Holly Newton who was stabbed to death in Hexham, attempted murder and having a knife.

READ MORE: Teen appears in court charged with murdering 15-year-old Holly Newton

Holly, 15, of Haltwhistle, was injured in the Priestpopple area at around 5.10pm on January 27. She died later in hospital.

Another 16-year-old boy was also taken to hospital after suffering non-life-threatening injuries in the city centre attack.

In 2020, there were 564 knife and offensive weapon offences recorded in the Northumbria Police area (43 per 100,000 of the population), 531 in 2021 (40 per 100,000 of the population) and in 2022, there were 524 offences (also 40 per 100,000 of the population).

Across England and Wales, 18,321 offences were recorded in 2020, 20,307 in 2021 and there were 19,368 in 2022.

A government spokesperson said: “Independent judges decide sentences but those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail than they were in 2010 and our tough new laws will see more repeat offenders face time behind bars.

“Since 2019, we have removed 90,000 knives and offensive weapons from our streets through stop and search, surrender initiatives and other targeted police action”.