A MUM has spoken of her shock after her 11-year-old daughter discovered a discarded 6ins carving knife on her way home from school.

Tori Laws and two friends were walking home from Colchester Academy when they spotted the knife poking out from under a bush in a busy cut-through near Chase Court in Greenstead.

Thinking quickly, the youngster called her mum, Vikki, who rushed to the scene.

Vikki said: “She was walking with her friends and they were messing around a bit.

“She kicked the edge of the bush and she saw something shiny underneath before realising it was a knife. I got straight in the car and went down there.”

When Vikki arrived it became clear the blade was a 6ins carving knife so she immediately called Essex Police.

She said: “They sent someone out and I chose to wait because I did not want it getting into the wrong hands.

“It was in a popular walkway for children going to Unity Primary Academy and Colchester Academy and there was school children playing in the area.

“If it got into another child’s hands who wasn’t quite as sensible as Tori anything could have happened.

“If I had left it then found out something happened it would have been on my conscience forever.”

“It was shocking but I am proud of my daughter’s actions.

“I praised her no end and she definitely did the right thing.”

A spokesman for Essex Police said officers regularly proactively search communities for discarded weapons like knives as part of Operation Sceptre.

He said: “We would like to thank this woman who did absolutely the right thing after finding the knife. She contacted us to report the discovery and we attended the location to collect it.

“The knife has since been disposed of in one of our many amnesty bins.”

Knife crime can be reported on 101 or online at esssex.police.uk but residents should always call 999 in an emergency.

You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.