A 'hugely naive' businesswoman who sold illegal 'self-defence kits' including CS gas and a knife designed to protect women from would be attackers has narrowly avoided jail. Renea Thorn-Jones, 21, set up an online business called Brat Boutique advertising 'self-defence kits' for £11, which included a CS gas canister and a concealed knife stored within a key.
Thorn-Jones, from Wythenshawe, said she'd spotted similar items for a sale on an American website and regarded it as a 'business opportunity'. But she did not realise what she was doing was illegal and could land her in jail.
Manchester Crown Court heard that she sold about 20 to 30 of the kits, which she advertised on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube alongside other items on her website including press-on fingernails, eyelashes and tarot readings. She made about £300 from selling the kits. Police were alerted to her website and officers arrested her at her home, where they discovered 60 'highly dangerous and noxious' CS gas canisters and 25 knives concealed in keys.
