Crown Court – Blade Assault Articles and Weapons (Possession and Threats) – Children and Youth The sale of knives and assault weapons has been controlled for decades, including age restrictions. However, not all knife and assault weapons offences are committed by youth. The carrying of an assault weapon, knife or blade or sharp object by anyone is a serious crime. Following the increase in knife crime and concerns about the possession and use of prohibited assault weapons, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (OWA) introduced new restrictions on knives and «blade products,» as well as controls on their supply and delivery. This provision was introduced by Article 44 of the OWA to prohibit the possession of patchwork knives or gravity knives. Also note the change in the definition of «patch knife» under section 43 of the OLA. – any knife with a blade that opens automatically either from the closed position to the fully open position OR from a partially open position to the fully open position by manually applying pressure on a button, spring or other device attached to the knife or knife. A blade item can be a knife or a sharp object (with the exception of a folding pocket knife less than 3 inches). A bladed object becomes an assault weapon when carried in public or used threateningly, and it is illegal to carry one except in limited defensible circumstances such as professional or religious reasons – or in self-defense when there is an immediate demonstrable threat of violence. Depending on guilt and other factors, penalties range from low fines to 30 months` imprisonment. Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 prohibits the possession of blade objects in a public place. Section 139AA of the Act refers to an aggravated version of this offence, namely threatening an object with a blade, point or offensive weapon.

In summary, to have a bladed object «with it», a person must give a very close physical link and some degree of direct control over the weapon by the person who would have the weapon with him. Article 1(4) defines an assault weapon as `any object manufactured or adapted to injure the person or intended by the person carrying it for such use by himself or by another person`. In R. v. Simpson (C), 78 CAR 115, the Court considered this definition and identified three categories of offensive weapons. It is usually a knife, but section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 defines a bladed article as any item with a blade or strongly pointed, unless it is a folding pocket knife with a blade less than 3 inches long. Even a blunt butter knife without a point and without a cutting edge has a blade and is therefore considered a blade item. The term «blade product» is a new term introduced in the Forest Preservation Products Act to cover a subset of blade articles. It is an object with a blade capable of inflicting serious injury on a person, in which that person`s skin is cut. a sharp object (except a folding pocket knife with a blade less than three inches) In a case involving possession of a bladed object, the issue is often whether the defendant had a valid reason for possessing the object in public. There is no fixed definition of what is considered just cause and it will be for the Court to decide whether or not a statement is just cause.

The government has a voluntary retail agreement in place; Trade standards and police encourage retailers to sign the agreement, which aims to restrict access to these products for people under the age of 18. There is also a toolkit for knife traffickers, which can be found on the National Business Crime Centre website. If you already have Challenge 21/25 policies in place to ensure that anyone under the age of 18 provides acceptable identification before purchasing an age-restricted product, these may be extended to cover the sale of items with a tip or blade. Although the OWA does not provide any details, acceptable identification is: These guidelines set out a number of penalties if possession of a blade item is convicted. Courts are imposing increasingly harsher and longer sentences on those convicted of crimes involving knives or assault weapons or pleading guilty. It is a defense to a charge of possession of a bladed item if a person proves that they had a good reason or legal authority to carry the item with them. The person must prove this good reason or legitimate authority after weighing the probabilities. It is a question of law for the court to decide the applicability of the provisions. The test consists of determining whether the item falls into the category of a knife or a sharp instrument. In R. v.

Davis, the court ruled that the screwdriver is not a blade object within the meaning of the definition Possession of a blade object is tribal in both cases, meaning that if a person is charged with the crime, his case can be heard either by the Magistrates` Court or the Crown Court. The maximum penalty that a trial court can impose is imprisonment for up to six months and/or an unlimited fine. If the case is heard by the Crown Court, the maximum penalty is four years` imprisonment or a fine, or both. Our criminal defence team has extensive experience representing clients accused and accused of possession of a blade item. Having a blade object in public is a serious offense, especially given the public perception of knife crime in gang culture. Unfortunately, there are many situations where knives are used, and the consequences are serious. For this reason, when convicting an offender, courts always consider the circumstances of a crime, and prison sentences are likely if the blade object was thrown in dangerous circumstances. Several types of knives are automatically – without exception – illegal under UK law, including: This applies to any item that is or has a blade. This can include things you don`t initially think of as knives – for example, carpentry, gardening tools, hooks and cutters, paint scrapers, and multiple tools (tools that include a knife or blade alongside other devices like a screwdriver, can opener, etc.). Magistrates Court: Blade Objects and Assault Weapons – Possession The only legal exceptions to the provisions relating to the age restriction of sharp blades or points are: In addition to these controls, these items, although they also fall under the definition of «blade product» of the Bureau of Forest Protection (see below), may not be supplied to residential premises unless certain conditions are met when sold at a distance. Fear of an imminent attack can be a good reason, and the person`s state of mind is a relevant consideration in determining whether or not they have a good reason for carrying a blade object (Clancy, 2012] EWCA Crim 8). It should be noted that it is not necessary for a blade to be sharp and it follows that a butter knife may be a blade object (Brooker v.

Director of Public Prosecutions [2005] EWHC 1132 (Admin)). However, in determining whether or not an object has a blade, a reasonable test must be applied, namely that the article must have the same general category as a knife or sharp instrument. This means, as the case law indicates, that a screwdriver is not a blade object (Davis [1998] Crim LR 564). If a particular knife is not considered an assault weapon, be aware that there is also a specific crime of having a bladed object in a public place. For more information, see Q337. Case law states that a bolt-action knife is not a folding knife, regardless of the length of its blade. In Harris v. Director of Public Prosecutions [1993] 1 WLR 82 It has been found that a locking knife is secured by a locking mechanism in the open position and is therefore not a «folding pocket knife» since it is not immediately foldable at all times. If the perpetrator brought a knife or other weapon to the crime scene to (a) commit a crime or (b) have it at his disposal as a weapon and used that knife or other weapon to commit the murder, the normal starting point is 25 years for the minimum term of life imprisonment. This applies to offences committed on or after 2 March 2010 if the offender was at least 18 years of age at the time of the offence (and the incident does not fall under the conditions for other appropriate starting points).

See Schedule 21 of the Sentencing Act, 2020 Blade products are a subset of the wider range of blade items to which section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 applies (in other words, any item with a sharp blade or point).