New legislation has come into force in England and Wales, making it an imprisonable offence to own, make, transport or sell a variety of “statement” knives often used by criminal gangs. The law has been introduced to close a legal loophole and extends to zombie-style knives and machetes with blades over 8 inches (20cm) in length, often with a serrated cutting edge. A compensation scheme and amnesty has been running in the run-up to the new law that comes into operation on 8th November.
Faron Paul runs an anti-knife campaign business collecting knives from those who want to dispose of them safely. He was himself the victim of a stabbing and seeks to prevent further tragedies by removing knives from circulation. Paul has been running the amnesty service since 2018, and says the knives he collects are becoming increasingly larger.
Substantial blades are being found in more crimes as well; according to figures gathered by the BBC, machetes, swords and zombie knives have almost doubled in five years. In 2023, law enforcement logs noted them in over 14,000 crimes. Machetes alone made up nearly 10,000 of these crimes.
Pooja Kanda, whose teenage son Ronan was murdered in a sword attack in Wolverhampton in June 2022, has called for the online sale of all large knives to be banned. Nikita, the victim’s sister, explained that “it’s about the culture that surrounds the sale of machetes, zombie knives and swords. The teenager who murdered Ronan was enticed by big zombie knives.” She blames the availability of these weapons online.
In London, Paul is busy collecting weapons, now so large that they no longer fit into his amnesty bins. He notes that it is sometimes challenging for people to do the “right” thing. Many young people are too scared to hand in knives at police stations. Paul has collected dozens of knives in recent weeks, mostly from under-25s
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