Hundreds of ‘zombie-style’ weapons taken away from county’s streets

Nottinghamshire Police’s knife crime lead has issued a public plea following a spike in ‘zombie-style’ weapons being handed in.

That’s after hundreds of these knives and machetes were surrendered at police stations across the county over the last few weeks.

These blades became illegal to own or keep in a private place in the UK for any reason on Tuesday (24 September) under brand new legislation.

Owners of the outlawed weapons have been given plenty of notice about the countdown to the law change, as part of a four-week Government-led initiative.

People have been encouraged during that time to hand over zombie-style weapons at police stations before it’s too late – while being financially compensated in the process.

Nottinghamshire Police has been supporting the surrender and compensation scheme, with handover points being set up at counters inside five of the county’s stations.

This has proven to be a great success, with the force collecting 445 confirmed zombie-style weapons – with either a serrated edge, holes in the blade, spikes, or multiple sharp points.  

Only a handful of people actually made claims for compensation in Nottinghamshire, with 724 different weapons – including ones not newly illegal – being handed over in total.

That figure included one person who handed in nearly 90 blades at Radford Road Police Station, with others electing not to claim compensation but instead drop them off into one of the force’s knife amnesty bins.

Chief Inspector Karl Thomas insisted it didn’t matter how people chose to hand the illegal weapons in to police, with the knife crime lead urging others to follow suit – even now the initiative is over.

He said: “Just because the surrender and compensation scheme has now finished, that doesn’t change the fact that it is now illegal to own these so-called zombie-style knives and machetes.

“Bearing this in mind, my message to anyone from Nottinghamshire who owns any of these weapons would be to hand them in now, before they get themselves into any trouble.   

“The best way to do this is to make use of the four amnesty bins set up all year-round inside our stations, where blades can be dropped off anonymously without any fear of reprisal.”

Ch Insp Thomas added: “We were pleased to support this national initiative over the last month or so and are delighted to have been able to retrieve so many banned weapons as a direct result.

“To see nearly 450 zombie-style weapons handed over is a fantastic result and a clear indication that lots of people are now aware of the change in the law.”

Blades containing the specific wording needed to make them zombie knives, as well as knuckledusters and friction lock batons are among the weapons already illegal to keep in a private setting.

Butterfly knives, throwing stars and curved swords are also on the list of prohibited weapons, under the Offensive Weapons Act.

Any of these, along with other unwanted blades – including kitchen knives – can be discarded into the force’s amnesty bins.

These can be accessed all year-round inside police stations in Mansfield, Newark, Radford Road in Hyson Green, and Oxclose Lane in Bestwood.

More amnesty bins will be made available at more locations across the county during the next Sceptre – the anti-knife crime week of action – from 11 November to 17 November.

Nearly 290 weapons were recovered in this way during the last Sceptre, while a further 258 were discovered inside the force’s four permanent amnesty bins when they were emptied in May.

Ch Insp Thomas added: “Anything we can do to take more weapons off our streets and out of harm’s way is undoubtedly a good thing and we will support these initiatives.

“My message to people would be to continue doing the right thing by handing these knives and offensive weapons in, so that we can keep our communities safe.”