We must ban Insta blades to keep our kids safe Dad of knife victim Jodie, 17,
PROBE REVEALS HOW EASY IT IS FOR UNDER 18s
THE heartbroken dad of teenage knife victim Jodie Chesney demanded action last night after a Sunday People investigation found deadly blades have been sold to under-age kids on Instagram.
Firms in the US appear to be cashing in on Britain’s rise in fatal stabbings by offering so-called zombie knives and daggers on the photo-sharing service.
We were able to arrange shipment of an assortment of weapons to the UK for as little as £10 – simply by ticking a box to confirm being over 18.
Grieving Peter Chesney, 39, whose daughter Jodie, 17, was fatally stabbed four months ago in a park near her home in Essex, said: “It shouldn’t be that easy to buy knives. It pains me.
“Innocent children are getting killed and something needs to be done.”
Our probe came just days after a 17-yearold was jailed for murdering a 16-year-old schoolboy with an horrific 10-inch knife he bought through Instagram.
Armed
Laoui Ali was just 16 when he stabbed Sidali Mohamed in the chest outside the gates of Joseph Chamberlain College in Birmingham in February.
Sentencing Ali to a minimum 19 years in jail on Monday, Judge Mark Wall QC told him: “You deliberately went to his college armed with a fearsome knife.
“It had a long blade which was split in two. It was a weapon which was obviously, potentially lethal. You bought it because in your words ‘It looked cool.’”
This week it emerged UK knife crime has risen by 8 per cent in the last year while prosecution levels have dropped.
The Sunday People uncovered a string of links on Instagram to companies in the US. There is no suggestion these firms are breaking US knife laws.
Many posted pictures of blades for sale through hashtags which appear to glamorise their use, like #knifecrime, #knifeporn and #knifeaddiction.
These direct teens to websites which boast a terrifying stocklist of weapons.
One firm posted images of a huge blade called Zombie Killer with hashtags including #cool.
The website hosts a range of “Zombie Killer” weapons that are illegal in the UK including a 24-inch machete and daggers.
Machetes, throwing knives and “hidden blad blade” weapons can be bought for as little as £5.
Orders over 300 doll dollars – around £240 – can be shipped to the UK a and payments made via ba bank wire transfer, a sales rep told us.
It is illegal in England Engla and Wales to sell a knife to anyone under 18 unles unless it has a folding blade of o 3 i nches or le l ess. Another fi firm
will ship s steel throwing poker cards to the UK for as little as £10.
A female-targeted website claims it’s for “Bad Babes Only” and glamorises a so-called garter blade knife with the tag #knivesarecool.
A post last month shows a woman wearing the £ 38 product with the caption: “Our garter blade knife is perfect for those long city walks when someone tells you to ‘smile more.’”
On each of the
Instagram accounts a nd s ubsequent website we identified, the only age check we found was a tick box confirming: “I am 18 years old or older.”
The knives can be purchased with debit cards – children in the UK can get a debit card from the age of 11 at some banks