Buyers will have to collect in person and retailers must verify they are over 18, in one of series of anti-knife crime measures

The delivery of knives bought online to private addresses is to be banned under a package of measures to tackle knife crime to be announced by the home secretary, Amber Rudd.

Knives bought online will in future have to be collected in person, with retailers responsible for checking that all buyers are 18 or older. New powers are also proposed for the police to seize banned weapons such as zombie knives, knuckledusters and throwing stars if they are found in someone’s home, and to arrest those involved.

The proposed new knife crime offences are to be subject to a consultation this autumn. They follow a Guardian investigation that found it was possible for teenagers to order age-restricted flick knives online and have them delivered to a private address without an age verification check.

Beyond the blade: marking the death of every child and teen by a knife in 2017 Read more

Rudd’s announcement of further action to tackle knife crime comes in advance of publication of the lastest quarterly crime figures on Thursday, which are expected to show a further rise in knife crime.

There were more than 32,000 knife crime offences in England and Wales in 2016, 14% more than in the previous year. There were more than 4,000 hospital admissions for assaults involving a knife in England in the 12 months to March 2016, with 771 of those injured under the age of 19.

Knife crime has risen during the last two years after a long-term downward trend. The most recent figures are the highest for five years.

The scale of the knife crime problem is far greater than the recent spate of acid attacks, which involved 455 recorded incidents in London in 2016. MPs debated the rise in acid attacks during a Commons adjournment debate on Monday.

The proposed package of knife crime measures also includes consulting on whether the existing ban on possessing a knife in a public place and school premises should be extended to the grounds of other educational establishments, such as colleges and universities.

The home secretary, announcing the proposed new offences, said: “Knife crime has devastating consequences. I am determined to tackle this and do all I can to break the deadly cycle and protect our children, families and communities.

“The action I am setting out today will help keep people safe and give police the powers they need to crack down on offenders.”

Rudd added that prevention was also a key consideration: “We will be working to educate our young people and give them the strength they need to turn away from knives.”

The sale of “zombie knives” was banned last year. A week of action on knife crime began on Monday involving 32 police forces. This includes weapon sweeps, test purchases in shops, targeted use of stop and search powers and the use of surrender bins. Work goes on with major retailers to prevent the sale of knives to underage customers.

The Home Office said the consultation document on the proposed knife offences would ensure that people who kept weapons on private premises for legitimate purposes such as cultural items or antiques would not be penalised.

It will also include proposals to change the legal definition of flick knives to reflect new designs and modified language for the offence of threatening with a knife, after feedback from prosecutors about court challenges.

How the Guardian reported the ease of buying flick knives online

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bailey Gwynne, 16, died after being stabbed at school in Aberdeen in October 2015. Photograph: PA

After the death of Bailey Gwynne, a teenager stabbed to death at his school with a £40 knife another student had ordered on Amazon, a Guardian investigation found that the US retailing giant was still selling age-restricted folding knives with no checking procedure to ensure they were being safely collected by adults.



Gwynne’s 16-year-old killer had circumvented Amazon’s age-verification checks and bought the 8.5cm knife by pinning a note to his front door rather than accepting delivery in person and having to prove that he was 18.

Six months after Gwynne’s death, a Guardian reporter was still able to receive age-restricted knives from Amazon without any checks by posting a similar note to the door of a family home.

The Guardian ordered two folding knives on Amazon, each with a blade of 9.5cm. The website made clear: “This bladed product is not for sale to people under the age of 18. A signature may be required on delivery.”

Order-tracking details on the website said the knives would be delivered by Amazon Logistics – one to a family home, the other to Guardian offices – in a package marked “age 18”. A note attached to the front door of the family home asked the delivery driver to drop off the parcel without knocking. Postroom staff at the Guardian declined to sign for the second knife. In both instances, the knife was nevertheless delivered.

The boy who stabbed Gwynne explained to police how he had bought the knife online “because they don’t check if you’re 18 or not”. He said: “You just leave a note on the door saying there’s no one in and asking for the package to be left in the shed.”

Previously, the Guardian was also able to buy on Amazon a 1m-volt stun gun almost identical to a weapon that had featured in another recent murder trial.