Consultation on tough measures for carrying machetes and zombie knives

Police would also be given more powers to seize and destroy the weapons while criminals would face tougher sentences for their sale and possession if the plans come into force.

It comes days after 14-year-old Leighton Amies was convicted of murdering Tomasz Oleszak by stabbing him with a serrated kitchen knife as he walked through a nature park in Gateshead.

Tomasz Oleszak, left, was fatally stabbed by Leighton Amies (Image: Contributor)

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He said he was carrying the knife ‘for reassurance’ and the Government is also considering whether to create a new offence for ‘carrying a bladed item with the intention to injure or cause fear’.

The Northern Echo has been campaigning for action on knife crime since the murder of a 18-year-old Jack Woodley from Newton Aycliffe who was fatally stabbed with a survival knife as he left the funfair at the Houghton Feast in October 2021.

Jack Woodley (Image: Contributor)

His mother, Zoey McGill, said: “There should be no grace given for those caught with such lethal weapons on them or in their homes.

“There should be no lenient sentences where they are then free to re-offend.”

Home Office consultation launched on Tuesday is now looking at whether the criminal justice system should treat public possession of knives and other offensive weapons more seriously.

Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner said: “So many lives are lost, or ruined, each year as a result of knife crime.

“We have to get a grip on this violence, and this Home Office consultation is a way for the public to make its voice heard and make a real difference.

“I would urge as many people as possible to take part in the consultation and tell the Government what they would like to see in the fight against knife crime, and people owning knives solely for the purpose of wounding others.”

Policing Minister Chris Philp has agreed to meet Ms McGill and Tanya Brown, whose son Connor died, also aged 18, following a knife attack during a night out in Sunderland in 2019.

Connor Brown (Image: Contributor)

Mr Philp has insisted efforts to ban more machetes and zombie knives in England and Wales and impose tougher jail sentences will ‘go even further’ than previous attempted crackdowns.

He Philp defended the Government plans to MPs in the face of accusations that they were “too little, too late”.

Speaking in the Commons earlier this week he said: “Knife crime causes misery and fear in our communities which is why, over many years, this Government has taken concerted action to tackle it.”

Branding knife crime a ‘menace’, he said every weapon taken off the streets has the ‘potential to save lives’, adding: “We have launched a seven-week consultation on new proposals to go even further to tackle the use of certain machetes and other bladed articles in crime.”

Policing minister Chris Philp (Image: PA)

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Mr Philp described the intended ban as ‘going further than the weapons ban already introduced in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.’

Shadow Home Office minister Sarah Jones told MPs Labour supports measures to ban the weapons, but added: “This is too little, too late. A smokescreen to distract from their appalling record.

“Knife crime has risen by 70 per cent since 2015 across the country, and the whole country is affected.”

She accused the Government of failing to ‘have a plan’ to tackle knife crime, adding: “The Offensive Weapons Bill was hailed by the former prime minister as the big answer to what is a national crisis, but it hasn’t worked.

“A year and a half ago I called on the Government to act on getting these knives off the streets entirely, but they have done nothing.

“Why the delay?”

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Under current laws, if police find a machete or other legal blade in someone’s home they cannot seize or act on this, even if they believe the items will be used in crime.

Giving police more powers will allow officers to seize certain blades even if the items are not prohibited.

Commander Stephen Clayman, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s work on knife crime, hailed the measures as a ‘huge step forward’ so officers can get the weapons off the streets.