Zombie knife surrender policy had 'huge flaws'

A knife very similar to k-mach-165 was offered to us for $5.58 if we ordered 1,000 of them.

Using an exchange rate from 25 January, and adding shipping costs, import duty of 8% and VAT at 20%, the knife would land in the UK for about £6.15.

Sporting Wholesale would not say if it used the same supplier or if it anticipated it would profit from the compensation scheme.

The company would also have faced other costs, such as storage and staffing, above the price of the blades.

K-mach-165 has been advertised for sale in the UK for about £15.

Another blade handed in by Sporting Wholesale was the k-mach-572.

It surrendered at least 12 boxes of this model, each containing 12 blades.

The Chinese supplier offered to sell our reporter 1,000 similar blades for $5.58 each, which would land in the UK for about £6.15.

It also offered to sell another knife model, which had also been surrendered, similar to one used to murder a man in Luton in 2023.

The supplier said the knife would cost about £10.85 each, when buying 1,000.

Sporting Wholesale is based in a warehouse on the outskirts of Luton.

Sarah Owen, Labour MP for the area, said: "Thirty-five thousand knives off the street is better than 35,000 knives on the streets."

But she said the Home Office's impact assessment "clearly had flaws - huge flaws".

Ms Owen added: "I think former ministers who set up this scheme really have questions to answer on how they decided that compensation was going to be allocated and to who.

"But I think we need to look at why it was that it was designed this way, because clearly it wasn't designed for the quantity of knives that were actually handed in."

The Home Office said its estimates were based on a previous surrender and compensation scheme in 2019.

In a consultation in spring 2023, it added, zombie knife retailers did not provide data on sales or stock.

Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for North Bedfordshire, said the government should have considered capping compensation payments to avoid an "open-ended cost to the taxpayer".

He said: "Whether or not this particular store should get its full compensation - I don't think it's clear yet that that should be paid and my advice to the government would be to go back and check its homework and see what its rights are under legislation it's passed."

He also supported the aim of getting more knives off the streets.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "All claims for compensation submitted under the 'zombie-style' knives and machetes surrender scheme have undergone stringent review.

"Dangerous weapons with no other purpose but to harm have been taken off our streets, supporting our mission of halving knife crime and serious violence within a decade."

Sporting Wholesale declined to comment.

The Chinese supplier was contacted but did not respond.