A 36-INCH ceremonial sword was among the deadly weapons taken off the streets of Wiltshire during the county’s most successful knife amnesty.

The two-week Operation Sceptre crackdown saw 450 knives, swords and blades dumped in amnesty bins.

That takes the total number of knives and swords surrendered during the county force's three anti-knife crime campaigns since 2018 to more than 1,200.

“The word is getting out there and people clearly want to get rid of knives that they no longer want hanging around,” said Inspector David Tippetts, the Swindon officer who led Operation Sceptre.

“450 weapons have been withdrawn from circulation and that’s good that we have got them off the streets.

“But the campaign has also been about raising awareness of knives and the damage they do to lives to young people. Prevention starts with young people and if we can give them information and education of what to do and what not to do it’s a good thing that will help to prevent them carrying weapons.

“Wiltshire is still one of the safest counties in the UK in terms of knife crime and we don’t want people to be alarmed, but it does go on and we cannot ignore it.”

The fortnight amnesty, which ended on Friday, saw knife bins put in 13 locations including churches and police stations in Swindon, Salisbury, Devizes, Chippenham, Marlborough, Trowbridge and Melksham.

The haul included every sort of blade from a one-inch stabbing knife to a 36-inch sword.

St James’s Church in Devizes had one of the knife bins installed.

Reverend Keith Brindle said: “We had 70 knives, including some of the more unpleasant ones, put in our bin.

"Some came from good-minded members of our congregation who realised that they didn’t need something that had been hanging around in their garden shed and some came from people who we would not normally see crossing the threshold of a church.”

A total of 96 blades were handed in in Swindon but 60 per cent were surrendered in churches and community centres in towns across the county.

The haul of 450 blades is the biggest from the three occasions that Wiltshire Police has mounted a knife amnesty. In 2018 430 weapons were dumped and in 2019 360 weapons were handed in.

During the course of this year’s campaign, Wiltshire Police cadets aged 15 and 16 took part in a sting to check on Swindon stores selling knives to people under 18.

As part of the Operation Sceptre anti-knife campaign cadets carried out what police describe as “a knife test-purchasing operation”.

Working with trading standards officers from Swindon Borough Council the teenagers went into well-known high street stores in the town with the aim of trying to buy a knife.

“Eight out of 15 national retailers that were visited failed the test purchase,” said a police spokesman.

“Four of the shops that failed the test purchase did request a form of ID, but failed to verify the age correctly. The other four retailers did not challenge the test purchaser on their age despite having Challenge 25 policies in place.

Inspector Tippetts said that he would like to see similar stings launched in other towns around the county, but explained that it was not up to the police to arrange them.

“It’s a Wiltshire Council decision but I would encourage them to get involved again with getting the message out there to retailers and their staff about their responsibilities,” he said.

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: “Removing just one knife that could maim or kill from Wiltshire’s streets is to be applauded but tackling knife crime is not something the police can do alone.

“The work of our early intervention team along with schools, charities, community groups and the health service, is vital to ensuring education of the dangers of carrying a knife reaches beyond the classroom.

“It is the role of my office, and our partners, to continue to intervene earlier, when necessary, and to make sure we’re providing positive alternatives and opportunities to those who are at risk of, and vulnerable to, being targeted and drawn into knife crime.

“This is something I intend to do to make Wiltshire a safer place to live.”

Operation Sceptre has now finished but people can still hand in knives and unwanted weapons in at any time at their closest police station.