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Terror offenders will face more time in jail and be monitored more closely as part of new laws being introduced within weeks, the government has said.

Automatic early release from prison will be scrapped for terror offenders while a minimum jail term of 14 years for serious crimes will be introduced.

The Home Office said a bill would be brought before Parliament by mid-March. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the government had faced “hard truths” since an attack in London in November.

Convicted terror offender Usman Khan had been on licence from prison when he fatally stabbed Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt at Fishmongers’ Hall near London Bridge on 29 November last year.

Khan had been released from jail on licence in 2018, half-way through a 16-year sentence for terrorism offences.

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Three men have died in a stabbing in east London.

Police said they were called at about 19:40 GMT on Sunday to reports of a disturbance in Elmstead Road in Seven Kings, Ilford.

Three men, aged in their 20s or 30s, who were involved in a fight, were found by emergency services with stab injuries, the Metropolitan Police said. All three were pronounced dead at the scene. Two men, aged 29 and 39, have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Ch Supt Steve Clayman said a fight had broken out between two groups who were armed with knives, leaving three men fatally stabbed. “We can now say that two arrests have since been made, so there has been progress.

“The parties are believed to be known to each other and the group are within the Sikh community,” he added.

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The number of people cautioned or convicted for carrying knives in England and Wales has reached record levels, Ministry of Justice data shows.

There were 14,135 offences in the year to September 2019 – the most since the data was first compiled in 2007. When possession offences involving other weapons were added, the total was almost 22,300 – the most since 2009.

This week it was reported Boris Johnson will lead a new cabinet committee looking at ways to tackle the crime. It comes after data released by the Office for National Statistics in October revealed police-recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument hit a record high in the year to June – up 7% on the previous 12 months to 44,076.

The latest MoJ figures show that for most offenders (71%) this was their first crime of this kind.

According to the report, offenders are now more likely to be handed an immediate jail sentence for knife and weapon offences, and for longer.

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TV cameras are to be allowed to film in Crown Courts in England and Wales for the first time.

New legislation being laid before Parliament will allow judges’ sentencing remarks in serious high-profile criminal cases to be seen and heard by TV and online audiences. However, trials will not be televised as they are in countries such as the US as only the judge will be filmed.

The judiciary, broadcasters and government have welcomed the move. The legislation will, for the first time, allow TV cameras to film judges passing sentence in murder, sexual offences, terrorism and other serious high-profile criminal cases in Crown Courts in England and Wales, including the Old Bailey. It marks a radical change and a significant extension to the operation of open justice though whole trials will not be televised.

Filming in the Scottish Courts has been allowed subject to permissions and conditions since 1992 but it does not happen that often and the first filming of a sentencing in Scotland was in 2012.

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A van driver “intended to kill” a police officer in a “savage” machete attack, a court has heard.

Muhammad Rodwan allegedly stabbed PC Stuart Outten after he was pulled over in Leyton, east London, on 7 August.

PC Outten, 29, suffered multiple stab wounds and skull fractures but managed to use his Taser to disable his attacker, the Old Bailey heard. Mr Rodwan, 59, admits striking the officer but denies attempted murder, claiming self-defence.

Opening the trial, Jonathan Rees QC said PC Outten suffered six deep wounds to his head, skull fractures, two wounds to his arm and multiple finger fractures, all of which required surgery. “This case concerns a savage machete attack that was carried out by the defendant on a police constable during what should have been a routine stop of the defendant’s white van to investigate whether he was properly insured,” he said.

“Despite the ferocity of the attack, and the seriousness of the wounds he had already received, PC Outten somehow managed to discharge his Taser weapon which disabled the defendant and brought the attack to an end. “The evidence suggests that had he not managed to fire his Taser, his injuries could have been far worse and even fatal.”

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