A KNIFE by a Swindon-based designer could already be saving lives, a leading psychiatrist has said.

Called New Point knives, the blades have an unusual “R” shaped tip. Experts say it makes it much harder for them to be used in stabbings.

John Cornock, a product design manager who lives in West Swindon, developed his innovative over a decade ago – after being challenged by his wife.

“The idea came around 2005, when knife crime was increasing,” said John, 50, of the Prinnels. "We’ve got three daughters and it occurred to us that these pointed kitchen knives are potentially lethal.

“My wife said that, with me being a product designer, couldn’t I come up with a safer knife.”

He spent six months researching different knives. “I ground all the points off the knives in the household.”

Eventually, he landed upon an innovative design that boasts a rounded “R” shaped end, and a smaller point.

His work attracted the interest of Metropolitan Police commanders fighting a surge in knife violence on the streets of the capital.

The Swindon product designer was invited to the Home Office, where laboratory tests found that the knives were almost as protective as a police stab vest. The unusual “R” shape of the point got snagged in clothing. “It limits how far it goes in [to clothing].”

John patented the knife in 2008. Since then, he and Sheffield firm Taylor’s Eye Witness have sold thousands of the knives to schools, NHS facilities and other institutions where safety is paramount.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Dr John Crichton, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, said that the knives could save lives – particularly in households where there is a history of violence.

Dr Crichton wants to see such homes subject to a “safety check”, with dangerous pointed kitchen knives swapped for safer substitutes.

He said: "This is a public health measure and public health measures are always about society deciding on a self-imposed restriction for the public good.”

The New Point knives are sharp, could be used to slash and could still cause major injuries, critics say.

However, advocates for the knives argue that their design means they are much harder to use in stabbings – the cause of most knife deaths.

Dr Crichton said "The idea began as a means of crime prevention, but it is also something that promotes safety in the home: it is not going to fall off a kitchen surface and stab you in the foot."

Designer John Cornock echoed this point, citing a story told to him by a senior Met Police officer.

“He said he went to one family house and the mother had left a large carving knife in the dishwasher with the point facing upwards.

“The five-year-old daughter had fallen on it. He said the knife had clean gone through this little girl. He thought to himself: ‘Why have we still got these knives?’ ”