Ronan's Law: Labour pledges to ban killer knives in name of murdered Wolverhampton schoolboy

The party has today announced it will introduce Ronan’s Law - named after 16-year-old Wolverhampton murder victim Ronan Kanda - as a priority if it forms the next government.

It will be a comprehensive crackdown on the sale and possession of dangerous zombie knives, machetes and swords.

The schoolboy was murdered with a 50cm ninja blade yards from his Lanesfield home in a case of mistaken identity two years ago.

The Labour Party says it will work relentlessly to tackle “the scourge of serious violence on Britain’s streets”, with a mission to halve knife crime within a decade.

The pledge comes a day after leader Sir Keir Starmer wrote an open letter to Star readers in which he said he was determined to act on a problem that has led to the deaths of several teenagers in recent years across the West Midlands.

As a central part of that programme, Ronan’s Law will include a comprehensive ban on possession of a wider range of lethal weapons which have been used to kill teenagers on Britain’s streets. That will include zombie knives, machetes and ninja swords.

Labour has pledged to carry out a full and comprehensive review of online knife sales, from purchase through to delivery, with much tougher enforcement of ID checks. It comes after revelations that many young attackers find it easy to get weapons online with no checks.

It also says it will ensure that those that run websites that fail to enforce new restrictions are brought to book.

The announcement comes as figures reveal that knife crime has soared by a staggering 80 per cent since 2015, with families and communities across the country being torn apart by serious violence.

The Labour Party is pledging swift and strong action to outlaw the knives that have been used to kill teenagers in towns and cities across the country. It will include ninja swords, of the kind used in Ronan Kanda’s case; samurai swords, like the one used in the appalling murder of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin in Hainault, London, in April; and a wider range of machetes and zombie knives which remain legal to purchase and own.

Labour says it is astonishing that the knife used in the Wolverhampton killing of 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai last year, a 20-inch ‘panther machete’, is still available to buy online for just £25, without any ID or age verification requirements. Mr Seesahai’s two attackers were just 12 years old.

The party says it will learn from the catastrophic failings in the case of Ronan Kanda, where a teenage killer was able to purchase a knife online in his mother’s name and then pick up the weapon without any process of ID verification.

Labour leader Sir Keir said: “Ronan Kanda’s family have suffered the most unimaginable loss. Their campaign to make sure no family endures the same is remarkable. If you are a family suffering from the indescribable grief of losing a child due to knife crime, you’re not going to care whether it’s a Labour or Conservative politician who takes action on the issue. What you do want is a sense of resolve from political leaders that they take this issue seriously and want to do what they can to reduce knife crime.

“I feel strongly about this. we have to work together to try to reduce knife crime. That’s why Labour will introduce Ronan’s Law and take strong action to ban online sales of machetes, zombie knives and ninja swords and put an end to knives being sold to children.”

Ronan’s mother Pooja Kanda said: “I will never understand why the Government have continuously disregarded numerous calls for a comprehensive ban on weapons that have no other purpose than to threaten, cause harm or kill.

“The availability of these weapons is fuelling a knife crime epidemic. I am therefore extremely grateful to the Labour Party for making us feel heard and adopting a significant ban as part of their commitment to tackling knife crime. We truly believe that Ronan’s Law will make a key difference to many and although it cannot save our beautiful boy, we know that it can, and will, save the lives of many others.”