Plan to ban 'menacing' machetes and zombie knives

Machetes and so-called zombie knives "with no practical use" could be banned in England and Wales under proposals to shut legal loopholes and curb violence.

Certain knives which are "designed to look menacing" and are not currently banned would be made illegal under the plans, the Home Office said.

A public consultation will also look at increasing maximum penalties for their possession and sale.

Labour said the weapons should have been banned years ago.

It is not the first time the government has pledged to crack down on such knives - four previous Conservative home secretaries since 2016 have announced similar plans.

The Home Office said that some machetes and other knives can have legitimate uses in the agricultural and outdoor sectors, but criminals are buying, selling and using the larger blades as weapons to intimidate and cause serious harm.

Under current rules, the possession of machetes and zombie knives are not outlawed unless they feature images or words on them that suggest they could be used for violence.

This means that if police find the weapons in someone's home, they cannot seize them, even if they believe it will be used to commit a crime.

Under the plans, police could be given greater powers to seize some bladed articles - even if they are not prohibited.

And the government is considering a new offence for carrying a knife with the intention to injure or cause fear of violence. The current law only applies to those who intend to cause injury.

The maximum penalty for importing, manufacturing or supplying banned offensive weapons or selling bladed articles to under-18s could also be increased from six months imprisonment to two years.

Source: House of Commons, Ministry of Justice

The consultation, which will run for seven weeks, will "carefully define" which machetes and knives will be banned.

Announcing the new proposals, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: "The thugs wielding these deadly knives aim to terrorise their victims and the public, and too often even carry out horrific or fatal attacks.

"They are emboldened by the cowardly idea that carrying these blades inflates their own status and respect."

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) welcomed the plans, describing them as "robust and powerful".

But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the Conservatives "have dragged their heels and are only launching a consultation".

Liberal Democrats Home Affairs spokesman MP Alistair Carmichael said the government had "consistently failed to keep our communities safe".

There were 282 homicides in England and Wales using a knife or sharp instrument in the year ending March 2022 - the highest annual total since records began in 1946, according to the Home Office.

Knife crime increased by 9% in 2022 and around 45,000 offences were recorded.

This month, a judge urged a jury to write to their MPs about the "shocking" availability of weapons online, after a teenager was found guilty of murder using a 22-inch long zombie knife. Saranbah Sillah, whose son Hakim died when he was stabbed in the attack at a knife awareness course in west London in 2017, has criticised the availability of knives.

"This consultation should have happened a long time ago," she told the BBC. "So many people have been calling on the government to do something about it."

In 2016, when Theresa May was home secretary, the government said work was under way to introduce legislation to ban zombie knives.

Later that year it announced a ban on the sale, importation and manufacture of zombie knives across England and Wales.

When Amber Rudd was in post in 2018, the government said a new Offensive Weapons Bill would make it illegal to possess certain offensive weapons such as zombie knives in private.

The following year, when the bill received royal assent, the government said the Offensive Weapons Act would also ban the sale of bladed products to a residential address without age verification.

Announcing the changes, the then Home Secretary Sajid Javid said the laws would give police "extra powers to seize dangerous weapons and ensure knives are less likely to make their way onto the streets".

And with Priti Patel at the helm in 2021, the Home Office said owners of some weapons, including zombie knives and knuckledusters, could face a jail sentence if found with them under the Offensive Weapons Act.