Amazon ‘back to school’ deal – a backpack and 8in knife for £43.98
A POLICE special constable told of his ‘shock’ after Amazon offered his son a deal to buy a large kitchen knife with his new schoolbag.
Wiz Bonafia said 14-yearold Alister was shopping online for a rucksack before the start of term.
He chose a grey Mancro antitheft backpack, which is described as being a ‘college schoolbag’ costing £22.99.
But he was then offered a special deal to buy the bag and the knife with an 8-inch blade for £43.98, under Amazon’s ‘frequently bought together’ option.
Mr Bonafia, who volunteers with Northamptonshire Police, said he had previously talked to Alister about the dangers of knife crime, and the shocked teenager rushed to tell his father what he had been offered on the website.
Mr Bonafia, 42, said: ‘As a parent, I was shocked and worried how easy it looks for my 14year-old son to buy a knife and how normal Amazon are making it look. As a special constable that sees how knife crime is impacting communities in Northamptonshire, I’m even more shocked.
‘Alister was as shocked as I was, that’s why he came running to me to show me. I have had a chat with him about knife crime and what he should do if faced with a knife, so he knows the gravity of knife crime.’
Mr Bonafia, who works for an IT company in Kettering, added: ‘I’ve been to stabbings and robberies at knifepoint before – the effects on the victims and wider communities are horrendous.
‘We all have to play our part in reducing knife crime, and Amazon is no exception.’
An anti- knife crime campaigner accused websites such as Amazon of ‘putting money before people’.
Dr Mark Prince set up the Kiyan Prince Foundation to turn youngsters away from knife crime after his son Kiyan was stabbed to death outside a school in north London in 2006.
He said: ‘Websites are putting money before people, so we need to start focusing on people. They need to think about how their offers are affecting the social issues and the next generation.
‘Have some integrity and don’t just focus on revenue, think about the impact that your decisions have.’
The controversy involving Amazon comes after a leading doctor slammed retailers and websites for continuing to sell illegal knives to children.
NHS trauma surgeon Dr Martin Griffiths told the NHS Expo conference in Manchester that retailers should not sell socalled zombie knives because they have ‘no use other than to cause serious harm’.
The sale of such knives, which have serrated edges and can be up to 2ft long, was banned in Britain in 2016 but there is evidence people have been able to buy them illegally online. There is no indication customers can buy zombie knives on Amazon.
Amazon said it had changed the offer so the kitchen knife no longer appeared with the backpack. A spokesman said it also had checks to stop people aged under 25 buying knives.
Knife crime involving teenagers has risen to epidemic levels. In London, 94 teenagers have been murdered so far this year.
In the latest case, Perry Brammer, 15, died on Thursday almost a week after being stabbed in Tottenham, north London, on Friday, August 30.
‘Putting money before people’