Ministers are considering introducing licences to prevent knives being sold to children on the internet.
Police say they are alarmed by youngsters trading blades on the so-called ‘grey market’, sometimes buying hundreds of knives at a time from retailers and then selling them on at a profit via social media platforms such as Snapchat and Telegram.
It is already illegal to sell knives to children, but some youngsters are even setting up businesses to bulk-buy and sell weapons, turning a blind eye to how old their customers are, or what they intend to use them for.
Policing minister Sarah Jones said the Government was open to the possibility of a new crackdown, which could see licences introduced to regulate the sale of bladed weapons.
Speaking at the launch of the National Knife Crime Centre in London today, set up to help halve knife crime in the next 10 years, she said: ‘It is too easy to be able to buy and sell and receive knives in this country.
‘I think it’s devastating how criminals keep finding new ways to exploit young people and make money from crime, and we have to be really vigilant to go after every new way they use.
‘If you look at the current landscape with young people encouraged to set up their own business, to buy and sell clothes online, make a profit within that landscape, and criminals have come into that and gone: “Okay, you can do this by buying and selling knives.”
‘So we have to be on top of that and come down on it very hard.’
Policing Minister Sarah Jones said the Government was open to introducing licences to crackdown on selling knives to children
She acknowledged that some people, such as those in agriculture and martial arts, had a legitimate purpose for buying or selling a knife, and said the Government would ‘make sure we are not introducing something that is cumbersome to them’.
She added: ‘There could be a licence regime which licenses who can sell knives and who can’t, and what the purpose could be for.
‘How that would work, we are at the early stages.’
A consultation is underway.
Pooja Kanda, whose 16-year-old son Ronan was murdered by two teenage thugs in a case of mistaken identity in 2022, called on the Government to continue to press for tighter knife laws.
She successfully lobbied ministers to introduce a ban on ninja-style knives this year, the sort that was used to stab Ronan to death as he walked home in Wolverhampton after visiting a friend.
Ms Kanda said: ‘We can’t keep making laws for everything, but we need a licensing system to make sure a seller is accountable, so the bladed article is going into the right hands and not in the wrong hands.’
Ronan’s older sister Nikita added: ‘We need to make sure we get this right because it is important that we don’t leave loopholes, because unfortunately anybody can still sell a knife no matter what their background is.’
Pooja Kanda, whose son Ronan (pictured) was stabbed to death by teen thugs in 2022, has successfully lobbied the Government to tighten its knife laws
The National Knife Crime Centre was launched today in an effort to halve knife crime in the next decade
Commander Stephen Clayman, who is leading the National Knife Crime Centre, said there was a great disparity between the maximum penalty for selling knives to children – which commands a jail term of up to six months – and the possible four years’ jail time for possession.
He said: ‘There has to be a consequence for selling knives in that indiscriminate manner, a bit like in drug supply – there has to be a consequece for that.’
It is two years since Southport killer Axel Rudakubana used other people’s driving licences to buy weapons online and build an arsenal in his bedroom.
The teenager bought the kitchen knife he used to kill three children and harm 10 others at at Taylor Swift-inspired dance class on Amazon.
Despite being too young to legally purchase a knife, he bought the 20cm blade without age verification, for only £1.70.
The driver who delivered the blade recorded that the package was given to someone who was visibly over the age of 25. Rudakubana was 17 at the time.
The Southport Inquiry is due to produce its first report into what happened in two weeks’ time, looking into Rudakubana’s history and any missed opportunities to prevent the attack.
The National Knife Crime Centre’s launch today comes in the week that a new report showed the CPS is prosecuting knife crime to a ‘good’ standard, but improvements are required to increase public protection.
The HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate found that overall, the CPS is committed to tackling knife crime and performs well in prosecuting knife offences, with prosecutors generally making the right charging decisions, particularly with simple possession offences.
But in a small number of instances, lower‑level charges were selected where a more serious offence should have been charged.