Government to ban doorstep knife deliveries in wake of Southport murders
Axel Rudakubana used a delivery loophole to buy his weapon, despite being under 18
Doorstep drop-offs of knives bought online are to be banned as the Government closes the loophole used by Axel Rudakubana, who
killed three young girls in Southport.
Tech companies such as Amazon will be barred from handing over a knife to anyone other than the person who bought it, enabling the firm to check ID and age for a third time on delivery.
This will be
on top of two-stage verification for online purchase, with every buyer required to provide ID such as a passport, as well as a video “selfie” to prove the ID is theirs.
The moves are designed to enforce the ban on the sale of knives with blades of more than three inches to anyone under the age of 18, in shops or online. Anyone who breaches the ban faces up to six months in jail.
Rudakubana evaded the ban by using software to disguise his internet address and identity to circumvent Amazon’s checks on his ID and age.
The two kitchen knives he bought were handed to an adult, believed to be one of Rudakubana’s parents, at his home address.
The delivery driver handed over the parcel, addressed to Axel Rudakubana, after establishing the recipient looked over 25 and had ID to prove it.
Under the new proposals, only the person who placed the order will be allowed to receive the parcel, with consequent ID and age checks to ensure they are over 18.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said: “It’s a total disgrace how easy it still is for children to get dangerous weapons online.
“More than two years after Ronan Kanda was killed with a ninja sword bought by a teenager online, too many retailers still don’t have proper checks in place.
“It’s too easy to put in false birth dates, parcels are too often being dropped off at a doorstop with no questions asked.
“We cannot go on like this. We need much stronger checks – before you buy, before it’s delivered.
“The measures I am setting out today will be crucial in addressing this problem and are part of our Plan for Change and mission to make streets safer.”
The Telegraph revealed on Saturday that just eight people were prosecuted for under-aged sales of knives in the year to June 2024, despite knife crime returning to record levels.
The number of knife crimes reported by police forces across England and Wales passed 50,000 in the same period, for only the second time since records began.
In London, they hit a record high of 15,859, up 16 per cent on 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Yet, since 2019 – when knife crime was at a record high – prosecutions of retailers for under-aged sales have plummeted.
Prosecutions peaked at 64 in 2020, then fell to 15 in the year ending June 2021, 22 in 2022, 18 in 2023 and just the eight in 2024, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.
Even though courts have powers to jail retailers caught selling knives to children for up to six months under the Criminal Justice Act of 1988, just six of the 62 prosecuted since 2020 received anything more than a fine – and only one got a suspended sentence.
The new ID checks were recommended in a report by Commander Stephen Clayman, the national police lead on knife crime, whom Ms Cooper asked last year to carry out a full review into the online sale and delivery of knives.
New laws are also to be introduced that will hold social media executives to account for knife crime-related content that glorifies and incites violence amongst young people.
Senior executives of social media companies will face fines in the region of £10,000 for failing to swiftly remove such content. This includes marketing and adverts for banned weapons such as zombie knives, ninja swords and machetes.
Police will get powers to order social media firms to remove the offending content within 48 hours or be fined. The measures are to be part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which is expected to be introduced to Parliament by spring.
www.telegraph.co.uk
