E-retailers sell axes and machetes as UK reels from knife crime

For sale: axes, swords, weapons inspired by violent movies and “hundreds of pocket and lock knives to fit any budget”.

The British online catalogue features a 16-inch machete that is the “baby brother” of a “massive 2ft version”. For customers who can’t decide, there’s a lucky dip option: “Try a mystery box from £10.”

The blades have one thing in common: they are all legally on sale in the UK, where knife attacks are part of the highest levels of homicide for a decade.

Police last week opened their 100th homicide case in London, where violent attacks are driven by gang disputes.

The easy availability of knives was identified by the government as a reason for soaring violent crime and prompted one judge to publicise pictures of deadly weapons seized during one murder investigation to highlight the problem.

The bladed weapons were discovered at the home of one of the four teenage killers of Mahamed Hassan, 17, after the gang-related murder in April last year. Judge Nicholas Cooke said regulations barring sales to under-18s were insufficient.

“Such fearsome weapons need to be kept out of the hands of persons who might use them,” he said. “What earthly use of a lawful nature could there be for such items?”

The little-noticed court case – in which the four killers were jailed for a total of 85 years – came amid increasing political and media focus on crime after a sharp rise in the most serious and violent cases over the past four years.

Police recorded more than 40,000 crimes in 2017-2018 where a knife or blade was used. Knife crimes and terrorist attacks contributed to the 736 homicides in 2017-2018, the highest figure for a decade.

Critics of the government point to eight years of cuts to police budgets and major reforms set in train by former home secretary, and now Prime Minister, Theresa May.

The government says higher levels of gun crime were seen in the 1990s when there were larger police budgets.

But in a country that prides itself on its routinely unarmed police force and strict gun laws, the government faces criticism that it has done too little.

A month after the four men were jailed by Judge Cooke, Mrs May’s successor, Amber Rudd, unveiled the government’s new violent crime strategy and insisted more would be done to tackle knife sales.

Carrying a knife without good reason is illegal.

The government in 2016 also banned so-called zombie knives, lethal weapons with curved and serrated edges inspired by horror films and prized for their fear factor.

“I’ve seen what’s going around our streets – the zombie knives, axes and bayonets,” she said. “And let me tell you, it might have had a place in medieval warfare but it certainly doesn’t have a place on our city streets.”

The knife sale website identified by the judge includes legal advice to inform buyers of the restrictions on purchases of blades. The website did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

The Centre for Social Justice, a right-of-centre think tank, claimed half of knife crime and violence in London was attributable to street gangs. Criminal sources told The National that oversupply of illicit drugs has driven down profit margins for dealers, sparking increased rivalry between gangs running operations in different areas in the capital.

The government blamed the rise in violent crime on the changing nature of drug markets, the easy accessibility of weaponry, the malign influence of gangster-inspired music and online goading between feuding gangs.

But the father of a teenager murdered a decade ago told

The National the problems went deeper. Barry Mizen, whose son Jimmy was killed in an unprovoked attack at a London bakery, said there was a “lack of commitment to really try to make a difference to some of these damaged parts