SUNBATHERS watched in horror as a group of teenagers showed off a large knife, just yards from where children were playing.

The youngsters were spotted in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon studying the blade under a tree on The Rye, High Wycombe.

Midweek's News Editor Clare Bourke was enjoying a picnic with three friends in the park when the disturbing sight wrecked their tranquil afternoon.

She said: "There were about a dozen teenagers who couldn't have been older than 14 to 16, and they were all well-dressed."

"I was shocked to see them messing around with this knife, which was between about eight to ten inches in size. It's just not a sight you'd expect to see on The Rye in the middle of a Sunday afternoon."

There were picnickers just yards away in one direction, a child playing with its parents and dog a few yards away in another and many other families enjoying the summer sunshine.

Clare said: "We first noticed they had a knife when they began turning it. You could see it glinting in the sun as they all looked at it."

The teenagers were under the tree for about half an hour before wandering off in the direction of the town centre.

Clare has now reported her sighting to the police, who were previously not aware of it and are currently not linking it with any other matter.

This is not the first frightening incident which has struck at High Wycombe's popular scenic attraction. The teenage son of Beverley Davis was brutally attacked while simply walking with friends on The Rye in the afternoon last month.

One thug asked him for a cigarette before beating him black and blue, leaving him with a broken jaw, swollen eyes, marks on his head from being kicked and a nose streaming with blood.

The mother-of-two, of High Wycombe, said: "I can't believe that you can't walk somewhere like that without feeling intimidated or threatened.

"These people hang round in groups and hide behind each other and behind knives. It is time we got back to old fashioned policing and got some patrols back on The Rye."

A spate of similar attacks, where a group approaches teenage boys and asks them for mobile phones and cigarettes before mugging them have occurred in and around High Wycombe, although police are not yet connecting the incidents.

Guy Bailey, Thames Valley Police spokesman, said that problems escalate during the summer holidays.

He added: "We are aware there has been some problems on The Rye but we are taking swift action. We have stepped up police patrols there and know that a visible police presence not only reassures people but warns off potential villains."

In a separate earlier incident on The Rye, four youths were arrested on Sunday just after 2pm after a boy's BMX was allegedly stolen. A 15-year-old has been charged with robbery. Three youths have been released on police bail. Police say no weapons were involved.