New Crackdown on Online Knife Sales: Tougher Rules and Sentences Incoming

Toughest Restrictions Yet Under ‘Ronan’s Law’

The government has announced its strictest measures yet on the online sale of knives, introducing stronger age verification checks, tougher penalties, and new reporting requirements for retailers. Named ‘Ronan’s Law’, the crackdown aims to prevent young people from easily accessing dangerous weapons online.

Stronger Age Verification and Reporting Requirements

For the first time, online retailers will be legally required to report suspicious and bulk knife purchases to the police to stop illegal resales on social media platforms. The move comes after a government review exposed loopholes that have allowed young people to purchase lethal weapons with little to no verification.

A new two-step verification system will also be introduced, requiring customers to submit photo ID at the point of purchase and again upon delivery. Additionally, delivery companies will only be allowed to hand over bladed items to the person who originally bought them.

Tougher Sentences for Illegal Knife Sales

The penalty for selling knives to under-18s will increase from six months to two years in prison. This sentence could apply not only to the person processing the sale but also to CEOs of companies found in breach of the law.

The same penalty will apply to the sale of prohibited weapons such as zombie-style knives, which were recently banned by the government.

New Offence for Carrying Knives with Violent Intent

Alongside these changes, a new offence of possessing an offensive weapon with intent for violence will be introduced under the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill. This offence will carry a prison sentence of up to four years, regardless of whether the weapon in question is legal or banned.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

“It is horrifying how easy it is for young people to get hold of knives online even though children’s lives are being lost, and families and communities are left devastated as a result.

“Not enough has been done to tackle the online market over recent years which is why we made it an urgent priority in our manifesto.”

New Police Unit to Target Illegal Online Knife Sales

The government will pilot a new dedicated police unit, backed by £1 million in funding, to monitor and crack down on illegal knife sales on social media platforms. The new unit, Operation Athos, will serve as proof of concept for a national enforcement strategy.

Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, highlighted the scale of the problem:

“The evidence in the end-to-end review clearly demonstrates just how easy it is for anyone to purchase a knife online, often avoiding any age verification at all, or where it is in place, exploiting vulnerabilities, especially with delivery.

“We welcome the government’s commitment in working with policing and partners to tackle knife crime and these new measures will significantly enhance our response to this.”

Ronan’s Law: Closing Dangerous Loopholes

The new laws honour the memory of Ronan Kanda, a 16-year-old who was tragically killed in 2022 in a case of mistaken identity. Ronan’s killers—also teenagers—had illegally purchased weapons online, collecting them from a Post Office without any age or ID verification. One of the attackers had bought over 20 knives online, using his mother’s identification to bypass security checks.

His mother, Pooja Kanda, has been campaigning for tougher regulations ever since. She said:

“Without proper ID checks, the online sale of these bladed articles played a crucial role in this tragedy. How was this allowed? A 16-year-old managed to get these weapons online and sold these weapons to other people.

“I knew we could not go on like this, and our fight for what was right had begun.”

Retailer Registration Scheme Under Consideration

The government has also announced plans to consult on a new registration scheme for online knife retailers. The proposal would mean that only responsible sellers who comply with strict regulations would be legally allowed to sell bladed items.

Patrick Green, CEO of the Ben Kinsella Trust, welcomed the move:

“These new laws, particularly the focus on reporting suspicious purchases and stronger age verification, will compel retailers to take responsibility for their actions.”

Government’s Mission to Halve Knife Crime

The new measures are part of the government’s wider plan to halve knife crime over the next decade. Alongside the new regulations, ministers have already introduced significant £10,000 fines for tech executives who fail to remove illegal knife-related content from their platforms.

With the introduction of Ronan’s Law, the government says it is delivering on its manifesto promise to crack down on the online sale of knives and close the loopholes that have put young people at risk.

The full review into the sale of knives online, commissioned by the Home Secretary, is published here on gov.uk.