Reported by Ruth Green and Rowan Bridge for BBC News, upcoming changes in regulations aim to tighten online sales of knives in the UK. Retailers will be compelled to report suspicious knife purchases to the police, while penalties for selling to minors will increase from six months to two years in prison. Additionally, a new additional policing unit with £1m funding will focus on detecting and preventing the illegal sale of weapons on social media. These measures collectively form “Ronan’s Law,” named after 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was tragically murdered near his home in Wolverhampton three years ago.
Under the Crime and Policing Bill, these new measures follow a review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council into the online knife market. Apart from longer prison sentences and stricter identification checks for buyers, a new offense of “possession with violent intent” will be introduced with a prison term of up to four years. Furthermore, there are considerations for a registration/licensing scheme for online knife vendors to enhance accountability.
Following the untimely death of her son, Pooja Kanda has been advocating for stronger measures to prevent knife crimes. She believes that the new legislation, if in place at the time, would have prevented her son’s murder. Furthermore, Commander Stephen Clayman, leading the NPCC review, highlights the need for retailers to be more responsible for their knife sales. Banning of knives on social media platforms and holding tech companies accountable for suspicious online transactions are also part of the recommendations.
One specific online seller, Stefan Petrescu from Southampton, caught national attention for using Instagram to sell knives. With bulk purchases and an alarming inventory list, Petrescu demonstrated the ease of marketing these dangerous weapons. His actions led to a three-year prison sentence after being found guilty of knife-related offenses. As the government vows to cut knife crime by half in the next decade, statistics from the Ben Kinsella Trust indicate 262 murders involving knives or sharp instruments in the year leading up to March 2024, with 57 victims under the age of 25
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