ZOMBIE PAYDAY

KNIFE AND GUN OWNERS CAN SURRENDER WEAPONS FOR COMPENSATION

ZOMBIE knife owners are being offered cash to hand their weapons in to police. The serrated blades are among a number of items that will be banned when the Offensive Weapons Act comes into force next year. Others set to be outlawed include knuckledusters, death star knives, cyclone knives, flick knives, gravity knives, batons, disguised knives and push daggers

The weapons can be surrendered under a threemonth scheme launched yesterday in England and Wales – with lawful owners able to claim for values of £30 or over.

Knuckledusters (inset) are valued at £2, zombie knives (left) at £10 – and lever release .308 rifles at £5,105.

It was already illegal to possess an offensive weapon in public but the new law forbids some kinds in private.

‘Tackling knife crime and reducing violence is a top priority for policing,’ said Dep Asst Comm Graham McNulty, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

‘The surrender scheme will enable us to remove dangerous weapons off the streets. Every weapon removed is possibly a life saved,’ he added.

In England and Wales, there were 18,108 knife crimes in the year to September – down from 22,449 in the previous period. Offences fell in the first wave of the pandemic, from 4,925 in the first quarter of this year to 2,786 in the second. But from July to September they soared to 5,190.

The crime and policing minister, Kit Malthouse, said the new law would ensure streets are safe from the ‘scourge’ of violent crime.

‘Every item surrendered is one which can no longer fall into the hands of criminals,’ he added.