KNIFE crime in Oxfordshire is among the lowest in the country, the latest Government figures showed today.

Knives and blades were used in 108 crimes in the county during 2007/08 including 54 in Oxford, 22 in Cherwell, 18 in South Oxfordshire, nine in West Oxfordshire and five in Vale of White Horse.

Oxfordshire is part of the Thames Valley Police force which has suffered 329 knife crime incidents during the same period of time.

Taking Oxfordshire alone the county is ranked 34th out of 44 forces in England and Wales for knife crime.

Thames Valley as a whole is 13th in the table.

During the past year Oxfordshire has suffered less knife incidents than numerous other counties such as Hampshire (388), Warwickshire (160), Bedfordshire (316), Derbyshire (187) and Wiltshire (140).

But there has been more knife crime in the county than other areas such as Gloucestershire (85), Cambridgeshire (100) and Dorset (47).

There were 22,151 knife crimes in England and Wales in the past 12 months.

London tops the table with 7,409 incidents dealt with by the Metropolitan Police followed by 2,303 in West Midlands and 2,294 in Greater Manchester.

It is the first time the Government has collected the statistics.

The crimes include attempted murder, wounding with intent, grievous bodily harm and robbery.