THE REFORM UK candidate for Sumners and Kingsmoor has claimed knife crime in Harlow has risen by 200% over last eight years.

The candidate is eighteen-year-old Jamie Winslow.

He made the statement on his social media account on Wednesday afternoon he met the much respected retired Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton.

Mr Sutton, who is now the Reform UK crime and policing advisor, is well know for his role in a number of high profile cases such as Levi Bellfield and Delroy Grant.

After the meeting, Mr Winslow said: “If I am elected on May 7 as the county councillor for Harlow South West I promise to make reducing crime a top priority.

“This isn’t just a political talking point, this was reality for me in London where I grew up where I personally witnessed drug crime and machete attacks right in front of me at a very young age on top of being the victim of theft multiple times.

“Crime is more than a statistic in Harlow, it’s how safe people feel and it often affects the way we live and the decisions we make; and with a 200% rise in knife crime in Harlow since 2018, it’s clear to many residents that change is needed to restore safety on our streets”.

It was a pleasure to meet @colinsutton today in Harlow. As police and crime advisor for Reform UK he gave a very moving and impassioned speech about how current day police forces in Britain are failing.

On top of this he provided very encouraging words on how elected officials… pic.twitter.com/6lpm6rtv6T

— Jamie Winslow (@JWinslow4Harlow) April 15, 2026

Crime statistics are sometimes difficult to analyse. They say that statistics are like a bikini: what they show is fascinating, what they conceal is vital”

Last week, Harlow MP Chris Vince said that reported knife crime was down by 7%. But was that locally, nationally?

Essex Police told us that “knife-enabled” crime was down 17.%% in the last year.

We went to the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner website for help.

When it comes to the possession of offensive weapons.

2018: 71 offences.

2025: 151 offences.

Of course, there is our own article from two years ago. But again, this is about possession of offensive weapons.

Knife Crime in Harlow: Over 200% increase in offensive weapon possession in just four years?

However, this covers a number of offensive weapons including knives.

On Friday, we saw Mr Winslow in Harlow Town Centre as he was waiting for Nigel Farage to appear.

We asked him where he got his figures from. He told us he would “tell us later”. We explained that we were just looking for a source but he again repeated that he would tell us later.

Last Monday, we made a request to interview both Mr Winslow as well as Church Langley and Potter Street candidate, Amanda Maison.

On Friday the chair of Harlow Reform told us he was working on it.

To be fair to Mr Winslow, he was the only Reform candidate standing in the District Council elections, who attended the event.

And he is also getting his message out there on social media. Plus we are sure meeting someone like Colin Sutton would have been an invaluable experience.

Finally, as we know, perhaps there is a statistic buried somewhere that may support his claim. If we find it, we will amend report accordingly.

A full list of candidates can be found below.

Harlow District Council Elections 2026: List of candidates for each ward