Man arrested just 22 minutes after new zombie knife law came into effect

Kofie John-Welch, 29, was arrested at his home in Oxford on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon

Zombie knives are now illegal under new laws that came into force on Tuesday (PA Wire)

A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing an illegal knife just minutes after new Zombie knife laws came into force.

Kofie John-Welch, 29, was arrested at his Oxford home 22 minutes after the new law came into effect, Thames Valley Police said.

The new law defined the weapons as “any bladed weapon over eight inches” that also had either a “serrated cutting edge, more thane hole in the blade, or multiple sharp points like spikes.”

John-Welch was charged with threatening a person with a bladed article, affray, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.

It comes only days after a 15-year-old boy was killed in a separate stabbing attack police believed involved a zombie-style weapon.

An amnesty was introduced allowing people to give up their knives ahead of the new law coming into force (PA Wire)

Daejuan Campbell died on Sunday evening after he was found with a fatal stab injury on Eglinton Road, Woolwich.

A 52-year-old man and an 18-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder, and both remain in police custody, according to the Metropolitan Police.

In the aftermath of the incident, the force issued a warning over zombie-style knives and said it was doing everything it could to remove them from London’s streets.

The government announced a ban on zombie knives and machetes earlier this year as part of efforts to reduce knife crime, with campaigners including actor Idris Elba pushing for the large blades to be outlawed.

Data obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act showed that in 2023 machetes, swords and zombie knives were mentioned in more than 14,000 crimes recorded by 32 police forces in England and Wales.

A police officer holds two Zombie knives (PA)

In 2019, there were 7,159 offences recorded as involving the large blades, which rose to 14,195 in 2023.

Nearly 10,000 of the offences recorded in 2023 involved machetes, double the number from five years before, the broadcaster reported.

Chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Gavin Stephens has welcomed the ban, but said enforcement is only one part of reducing knife crime.

He said: “We’re acutely conscious that bans and the legislation and enforcement is only one part of the equation, and we know that there’s a lot for us to do across the full range of our policing activities to deter young people from violence. We’re not going to solve the problem of knife crime just by one aspect of it.”