POLICE are cracking down on Guernsey’s so-called knife culture after Craig Rouget was found guilty of stabbing James Dean to death. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Dowding, who led the murder investigation, said that they will be ‘fully exercising’ their right to stop and search any person suspected of carrying an offensive weapon.

On Friday, Chris Dean, the father of the murdered 21-year-old, demanded that society worked towards ending the knife culture that had devastated his family.

DCI Dowding said there was no excuse for anyone to take a knife out when socialising.

‘I don’t think that a stronger message could have been given than the one we have seen, heard and read from Mr Dean. It was a very passionate and moving talk from him,’ he said.

‘From here on we have to ensure that parents, siblings and friends talk to one another and anyone considering carrying a knife doesn’t do it.

‘The point I would like to make is that this incident has taken away one life and another young man is potentially going to serve a number of years in prison. It has destroyed two families and also their extended families and friends as well. There are no winners at all.’

Nineteen-year-old digger driver Craig Rouget was found guilty on Friday of the murder of Mr Dean on the evening of Saturday 9 September.

DCI Dowding said police would be ‘doing things operationally without doubt’ to combat the problem, but could not reveal more details.

He added that while he didn’t think there was a knife culture in Guernsey, one incident was one too many.

‘I have to say that our statistics of people that we deal with do not support strong evidence of this, but a knife was used on the night of September 9 2006 with tragic consequences,’ he said.

‘My personal point of view is that it could be down to people trying to look big and clever, but it’s just not smart. We want everyone to take our message seriously.’

Home minister Deputy Geoff Mahy said he was behind the police’s pledge to crack down on knife crime in Guernsey.

He took the issue very seriously and supported a hard line against people carrying offensive weapons when socialising.

‘If someone is going fishing, for example, that’s fine, but if they are just walking around Town and the police suspect them of possessing a knife for no good reason, then they will be dealt with very seriously by the courts,’ he said.

‘This is totally unacceptable for Guernsey and following the tragedy that has happened this will be treated as a priority.

‘We have to accept that knives are readily available in the house, but it is the user who is responsible.

‘There is already enough legislation in place to deal with this situation and the department supports a zero tolerance policy as long as it is used appropriately.’