Campaigners are calling for a ban on the sale of lethal machetes which can be easily bought for less than £10.
A petition, launched by a knife attack victim, has already attracted 72,000 signatures from both north and south of the border. Last week the Sunday Mail found machetes of all shapes and sizes easily available online, with some on sale for as little as £9.95 and delivered straight to your door.
One firm advertised a weapon called a Deluxe Rambo IV Machete, describing it as a survival knife, for £39.99. Support for the ban has also been given by the two main opposition parties in Scotland and victims.
Andrew Dinsmore, who started the petition, was robbed of his watch at machete point in Chelsea in London by two masked muggers on a scooter in May while walking home with his fiancee. The 34-year-old, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was astonished how easy it was to buy a machete online and would like to see both the Scottish and UK governments join forces to end their sale.
Andrew, who is a councillor for Hammersmith and Fulham in London, said: “My fiancee thought they were going to cut off my head with the machete. I want to see the online sale of machetes banned across Britain including Scotland. There is no legitimate use for these weapons.
“The fact that this petition has gained so much support in such a short space of time shows the strength of feeling on the subject across the country.”
There has also been a string of machete attacks in Scotland in the last few months. One, on June 10, left a 31-year-old man with a serious head injury after he was ambushed in Lanark by a gang. In May Ashley Reilly, 35, was attacked with a machete in her home, also in Lanark, by three men in an unrelated incident.
They hacked their way through a wardrobe Ashley used as a shield, severing the tendons in her wrist and ankle and leaving 6in-long lacerations along her leg as her horrified children looked on. Glasgow shopkeeper Mohammed Rajak said he still suffers side effects from a machete attack almost 30 years ago and would like to see their sale brought under control.
He was pulling down the shutters to his shop in the city’s Bridgeton area in the summer of 1994 when he was beaten up by a machete-wielding gang. He said: “The doctors said I was lucky the attackers missed an artery. They had hacked my leg with a machete. Physically, I recovered but mentally it took me a good couple of years to come to terms with what happened.”
Mohammed, who runs the Buywell Day-Today store, is backing Andrew’s campaign to curb the sale of machetes.
The father-of-three added: “It was random violence for its own sake. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I had a machete in my leg.
“This is obviously a weapon that some people are buying to cause serious long-term damage to others.”
Scots Tory shadow cabinet secretary for justice Jamie Greene joined the call for tougher curbs. He said: “The UK Government recently toughened up laws, banning the delivery of certain knives to residential addresses that were bought online, and any way the law can be strengthened must be looked at.”
Scottish Labour community safety spokesperson Katy Clark said: “We need to look at what can be done to tackle this issue and stop the rising tide of violent crime, including considering a ban on the sale of machetes.
“The Scottish Government need to focus on how to make our communities safer.”
Police Scotland said they are concerned by the misuse of all types of knife, not just machetes.
Chief Inspector Nicola Robison said: “Knife crime can have a devastating impact on families and communities and reducing this kind of crime is a top priority for Police Scotland. We work with a range of partners to raise awareness of the consequences of carrying bladed weapons.”
The Scottish Government is running a ‘Surrender and Compensation Scheme’ until September 30 where people can hand in weapons in return for payments of up to £40.
The weapons being targeted include zombie knives – which resemble machetes.
A spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government have invested over £24million in violence prevention since 2008.
“In 2022-23 we are providing more than £2million to support ongoing and new innovative violence prevention activity across Scotland.”
Weapons easy to buy on the web
A Sunday Mail investigation found fearsome machetes widely on sale to adults across the UK.
The blades ranged in length from 12 to 18 inches on average. Some were 24in and more.
One firm, DNA leisure, based in Luton, Bedfordshire, had 119 different types of machete on their website from £9.95 to £224.95.
They came with colourful titles such as Cane Cutter, Jungle Machete, and Desert Operations Machete.
The Glasgow Angling Centre had five machetes online, ranging in price from £13.99 to £74.99. It said it did not sell to 18s or under.
Another firm, Springfields, based in Burton, Staffordshire, had 64 for sale.
One was ominously titled Cold Steel Kukri Machete and retailed at £29.99.
Springfields director Luke Bullock said he does age verification on all sales to ensure buyers are over 18.
He said his customers include gardeners, farmers, forestry workers – who use them to clear ground – and a vineyard owner.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
