Punish those selling knives to children - Islington Liberal Democrats

12.49.18pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 6th Aug 2008

Councillor Terry Stacy meeting local police officers.

As Islington's Liberal Democrat-run council prepares to prosecute four shops caught selling knives to children, the Lib Dems are calling on the courts to take a much stronger stand against those who are fuelling knife crime by illegally selling knives to children and young people.

During July, Islington Council sent trading standards officers and underage volunteers to seventeen shops across the borough to carry out test purchases - and four were caught breaking the law by selling knives to people under 18.

These shops are now under investigation. Islington's Liberal Democrat leadership are urging prosecutions - because this disregard for the law poses a significant risk to public safety.

However, figures unearthed this week by Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Chris Huhne MP have revealed that when it comes to court, none of the people caught selling knives to children in the last five years were sent to prison and only one was given a community sentence. 56 people were fined, but 21 of them were given fines of less than £200.

Councillor Terry Stacy, Islington's community safety chief, said:

"The council will catch and prosecute this crime. We're doing what we can in the Council to get tough on knife crime, but support from Central Government is seriously lacking.

"The maximum penalty for selling a knife to someone underage is six months in prison- so why are people all over the country being let off the hook by the legal system? These tiny fines and a lack of custodial punishment is a completely inadequate deterrent to the unscrupulous shop keepers who flout the law and sell weapons to kids.

"Liberal Democrats believe that the courts and the Labour Government must join us in taking a much stronger stand against those who are fuelling knife crime by illegally selling knives to young people."