Greater Manchester Police’s Assistant Chief Constable has called on parents to have conversations with their children about the dangers of carrying knives in the wake of a stabbing in which a teenager lost his life at the weekend.

17-year-old Yousef Ghaleb Makki from Burnage was stabbed on Saturday evening at Gorse Bank Road in Hale Barns.

And in Wythenshawe a man was stabbed in Thornsgreen Road, near Manchester Airport, last month. In January a A 27-year-old was taken to hospital with a ‘serious’ shoulder injury following a stabbing on Woodhouse Lane.

Also in January Lee Walker was jailed after admitting stabbing a 38-year-old Shaun Murphy to death in June last year.

ACC Rob Potts said: “The events of this weekend have sadly raised so many questions about the state of the knife crime problem in Greater Manchester and across the country.

“There is no denying it is a problem for society and one that the police, local authorities, health and education providers are working hard to address.

“The only way to properly tackle this problem is by working together with communities and our partners.

“Greater Manchester Police will be continuing to run operations to tackle knife crime over the coming weeks and months, incorporating a range of policing tactics including hotspot targeting and stop and search methods as well as working with partners to better understand why people are carrying knives while educating them of the consequences of doing so.

“The problem of knife possession is not going to be properly resolved quickly but I hope that the tragic loss of a 17-year-old boy’s life will bring home to people the potential outcome that follows from the carrying and use of knives.

“I also hope parents will also take note and open up that conversation with their children about carrying knives – better an awkward conversation now than a devastating one later.”

Britain’s top police officer Cressida Dick has linked the rise in knife crime with cuts in police numbers – a claim denied by the Prime Minister.