LETHAL but legal – that, amazingly, is the status of the double-bladed knife pictured on our front page today.

The knife and razor-style blade combination was found by police officers in the pocket of a man arrested for other offences, as we report here.

But when his case came to court the knife charges were dismissed because a blade has to be at least three inches long to be deemed offensive. This knife fell short by just half an inch.

With the high profile of knife crime at the moment, particularly in London, one would have thought such a legal loophole would be closed by now.

We do not suggest the man in this case planned to commit a crime with the knife, which he claimed belonged to a friend. But we would question why anyone would feel the need to carry such a potentially dangerous weapon around with them.

District judge Bruce Morgan, who heard the case, says it is “crazy”

that such a knife can be carried without an offence being committed.

We have to agree with him.

If the Government is serious about knife crime then the possession of any knife without a justifiably good reason should be an offence.

The police say anyone found with a knife or sharp object will be dealt with “appropriately”. We are not sure what that means. In this case, it appears to mean nothing and all because the knife in question was not long enough.

In the battle against knife crime size really should not matter.