Two boys arrested after knives recovered by police in Sutton

Officers from the Ashfield Operation Reacher team and the Neighbourhood Policing team were taking part in a regular community football session on Sutton Lawn when they were alerted to the weapon at around 8.20pm.

Police say as officers approached, the boys fled from the scene but were chased down and detained.

Two locking-style knives were recovered from a bag and another large hunting knife was found in a nearby bin.

The boys – aged 13 and 12 – were arrested for possessing bladed articles and taken to Mansfield Police Station.

They were later released on police bail and investigations continue.

Officers say the pair were not involved in the football session and were sported elsewhere in the park.

Chief Insp Steven O’Neill, commander for Mansfield and Ashfield, said: “This was a great bit of work by one of my local PCSOs and a PC from my Ashfield Operation Reacher team, who were in the area to help local children enjoy a football session.

“As soon as they learned about the presence of knives they took swift and decisive action to safeguard members of the public.

“Tackling knife crime is of huge importance to Nottinghamshire Police and we are working every day on a joint approach of prevention and detection.

“We are conducting additional patrols in certain locations and developing intelligence-led operations with members of the county knife-crime team to proactively stop and search individuals and vehicles.

“We have also have a robust management strategy in place to intervene early with people we believe are at increased risk of involvement in violent crime.

“I hope this case serves as a reminder that we won’t tolerate people carrying weapons in public. I also hope it serves as a reminder to parents to ensure their children are not leaving the house with knives.

"As a police officer the very worst thing you can do is to inform a parent that their child has been killed or seriously injured. I don’t want any of my officers to be put in that position and will continue with our very proactive programme work to tackle this issue head-on.”