Police federation boss welcomes plans to give officers powers to seize and destroy more machetes and zombie knives
Plans to give officers powers to seize and destroy more machetes and zombie knives have been welcomed by a West Midlands Police Federation boss.
Deputy chair Jase Dooley said zombie knives were used “purely for injury” and that changes would close a “crazy” loophole that allowed some dangerous weapons to be sold without breaking the law.
Under the plans announced by the Home Office, more zombie-style knives and machetes will be banned and officers will be given more powers to seize and destroy them.
A new offence will also be introduced for possessing bladed articles "with the intention to endanger life or cause fear of violence”.
It follows a campaign by West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke for a ban on dangerous weapons such as machetes and zombie-style blades.
Mr Dooley said: “We welcome this. Rich has been pushing this really hard for a year or so now.
“There’s a loophole in the law that said, for it to be classed as a zombie knife, it had to have a cutting edge, a serrated edge and the writing on the side saying zombie knife, which was absolute madness.
“If people were importing fake zombie knives but the writing wasn’t on the side, we couldn’t treat it as a zombie knife and seize it off them as a zombie knife. It’s absolutely crazy.
“Thankfully the Government has seen this now.
“A zombie knife is purely for injury. There’s no other way around it. You don’t use those things for gardening.”
Mr Dooley said that tougher punishments for carrying the weapons might put people off carrying them.
He said: “In my opinion, you shouldn’t be allowed to be given cautions for carrying one of these.
“The punishment needs to fit the crime so for me, it should be a straight charge and straight to court.
“There’s no excuse for you to be carrying one of these in a public place.
“If they know the punishment is going to be a charge and go to court and have a criminal conviction, that might start putting them off."
The Government said the measures, first proposed in April, will be legislated "when Parliament allows" following a public consultation.
The possession of so-called "zombie" knives, currently defined by the Government as a blade with "a cutting edge, a serrated edge and images or words suggesting it is used for violence", is already illegal.
Under the new measures, the Home Office said the definition will include any bladed weapon more than eight inches long with a plain-cutting edge and sharp pointed end that also has either a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade or multiple sharp points like spikes.
The heartbroken family of 16-year-old Ronan Kanda have called for tougher controls on knife sales after it emerged his teenage killers had bought vicious blades over the internet.
He was attacked in Wolverhampton last June with machetes by 17-year-olds Prabjeet Veadhesa and Sukhman Shergill, who were jailed for a total of 34 years for his murder.
The Express & Star is backing a petition set up by Ronan Kanda's mother Pooja Kanda calling for the sale of machetes, zombie knives and other threatening blades online to be banned.
The petition, which has been signed by more than 10,000 people, can be found here
