Teen illegally bought knives for same price as can of cola in undercover operation
dailystar.co.ukdeadly knives up to eight inches long in the UK, with an alarming number of stores illegally selling the blades to young people with no ID.
An investigation by the Mirror found that a 16-year-old undercover shopper with no ID was able to get her hands on knives at 15 of the 23 shops she tried - some for as little as £1.30.The shops, in London, Manchester and Liverpool were breaking the law by allowing the underage shopper to walk out.READ MORE: Far-right thug carved words 's***' and 'w****' on victim with knife before violent rapeWith knife deaths amongst teens in the UK at startlingly high rates, most parents would no doubt hope that shopkeepers were careful and responsible with the sale of the potentially lethal tools.The Mirror found that the girl, 'Martha', who was two years too young to be buying a knife, could get her hands on one for the same price as a fizzy drink.The paper reports that most of the knives were purchased from small, independent outlets.Some of the 15 stores that broke the law however were far larger.The only kind of blades under 18s are allowed to buy in the UK are pen-knives with a blade under 3 inches.Knife crime in the UK since 2011 has increased 30%.
27 under 18s were killed with knives in London last year alone.The Ben Kinsella Trust’s Patrick Green told the Mirror: “It is shocking to see that despite the misery knife crime brings to hundreds of families every year, a large proportion of retailers still ignore the law, and sell knives to teenagers.“These retailers often get away with a slap-on-the-wrist fine, while families of knife crime victims face a life sentence of suffering.
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