In a bid to impose stricter rules for online retailers selling knives, the UK government named the law after an Indian-origin boy killed in a stabbing attack in 2022.

The measures taken by the UK government were named as ‘Ronan’s Law’ in honour of Ronan Kanda who was tragically killed in 2022 in a case of mistaken identity near his home in Wolverhampton aged 16.

Stricter rules for online retailers selling knives will be introduced by the government, along with tougher penalties for failing to enforce them, to protect young people from knife crime.

Following tragedies where the unlicensed sale of these weapons online has led to young people being killed, retailers will be required to report any bulk or suspicious-looking purchases of knives on their platforms to the police to prevent illegal resales from happening across social media accounts.

“We will increase the sentence for selling weapons to under 18s from 6 months to up to 2 years prison time, which could apply to an individual who has processed the sale or a CEO of the company,” said Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for the Home Department.

This increased penalty will also apply to the sale or supply of prohibited offensive weapons such as recently banned zombie-style knives, following police evidence outlined by Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, where he identified a discrepancy in current legislation which means there is more leniency for illegally selling weapons than possessing one.

The UK government will include a new offence of possessing an offensive weapon with intent for violence in the Crime and Policing Bill which will come with a prison sentence of up to 4 years in prison. This means that no matter if the weapon in possession is legal or not if there is intent to cause violence, it will be considered a crime.

“It is horrifying how easy it is for young people to get hold of knives online even though children’s lives are being lost, and families and communities are left devastated as a result,” said Cooper.

“A key focus in our fight to tackle knife crime and improve the safety of our communities is limiting the accessibility of knives wherever possible, restricting their availability and the routes to purchase. All too often in policing, we are dealing with the horrific consequences of knife crime and seeing how it devastates individuals and families,” said Commander Clayman.

Ronan’s killers, who were also teenagers, illegally bought lethal weapons online and collected them from the Post Office on the day of the attack, with no age or identity verification taking place. It was later revealed that one of Ronan’s teenage killers had bought more than 20 knives online, including by using his mother’s ID, as per reports.

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