Shops selling deadly knives to 13-year-olds

♦ Children as young as 13 are being sold deadly knives by shopkeepers, an investigation by Trading Standards and the Metropolitan Police has found.

Spot checks found 50 shops in London selling kitchen knives, razor blades and cleavers to children.

Thirteen teenagers have been stabbed to death in the capital this year, one more than in the whole of 2016.

London Trading Standards and the Met used child volunteers aged between 12 and 17 to carry out 315 checks, with a compliance rate of 84 per cent. Last year, 725 test purchases were carried out, resulting in 96 sales – a rate of 87 per cent compliance.

Trading Standards are now working to support more responsible retailing of knives, with initiatives including a “challenge 25” policy, as well as keeping knives behind the counter or in secure cabinets.