Idris Elba resurrects knife plea first made in Plymouth 17 years ago

British actor Idris Elba - famous for his role as hard-bitten police detective Luther - has prompted discussions with his suggestion that kitchen knives could be blunted as part of innovations to tackle the issue of knife crime.

Appearing on BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme - ahead of the release of his documentary Idris Elba: A Year Of Knife Crime later this year - the 52-year-old actor put forward a number of ideas which could help counter the rise in knife injuries, including the banning of ninja swords and the removal of the sharp point of kitchen knives.

Mr Elba's new documentary sees the British actor spend 12 months exploring the reality of the UK's knife crime crisis.

He told the BBC: "Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say. But you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it."

The concept of removing of knife points is not new, at least not to PlymouthLive readers. In 2019 we reported how a Liverpool firm Rayware had created anti-stab knives in response to a rise in knife attacks and a change in the law, a concept which was praised by former Chief Superintendent Jim Webster, who sadly passed away in 2020.

Jim Webster, who was Plymouth's police Commander between 2007 and 2009, oversaw a number of high profile investigations including nursery paedophile Vanessa George and Exeter bomber Nicky Reilly. During his reign he suggested that one way to reduce the number of victims of stabbings was a fundamental but simple redesign of kitchen knives.

During a force-wide knife amnesty in 2008 Mr Webster told Plymouth Live: "Most people do not realise how easy it is to badly injure or kill somebody with a knife.

"In my time serving as an officer in London I investigated many murders where knives were used and quite simple incidents have turned into murder because of the use of knives."

As an aside he then highlighted how the vast majority of stabbing incidents were done using kitchen knives because they were readily available to all. He claimed that taking off the point end of a knife, effectively blunting it to prevent stab injuries, could save lives as stab wounds were the main cause of serious injury and death.

However he went on to admit that though a simple move, it would need the agreement by kitchenware manufacturers and a willingness to take that first step.

Mr Webster, who went on to carry out a senior policing role at the Metropolitan Police before retiring, said the suggestion for a 'blunt' knife had actually come from a police constable at Charles Cross police station in Plymouth.

In the years that followed Plymouth bore witness to a number of horrific knife incidents, including tragic deaths.

One of the most high-profile cases in Plymouth was the murder of Tanis Bhandari in the early hours of New Year's Day 2015 in Tamerton Foliot. Jamie Healy, Sean Cordon and George Walker all suffered serious stab wounds while Matthew Daw suffered cuts to his arm.

Royal Navy Surgeon Commander Anthony Lambert told Plymouth Crown Court, during the trial of killers Donald Pemberton and Ryan Williams, that as he was treating one of the young men who had been stabbed in the back, he discovered the wound was so deep he was able to reach through his stomach and touch the operating table underneath.

He revealed that one of the wounds suffered by the young man was 16.1cm deep. He also revealed that the young man's spleen and one of his kidneys had to be removed as they had been sliced apart by the stabbing.

In 2019, after being told of work being done by Liverpool-firm Rayware, Mr Webster told PlymouthLive: "For me it all started in about 1982 when a fellow Metropolitan police officer was stabbed and killed with a big kitchen carving knife. The obvious danger was that you could pick up a kitchen knife from anywhere and everyone had access to them.

"It was not until around 2008 or 2009 and we were looking at knife crime and knife incidents in Plymouth and as part of that a Pc suggested there was a range of things we could try, including taking of the sharp point of a knife.

"We did begin to explore it but there were obvious problems, not least convincing manufacturers to change their design at our request.

"It is possible to influence things and, after all, Plymouth was the starting place of police officers regularly using head-cameras. Back in 2007 the then Chief Superintendent Morris Watts and PC Olly Taylor championed headcams and wrote the policy on them. Sadly, by 2010 the force felt it couldn't proceed further, but the policy and legal framework had been done.

"Plymouth did fantastic work on head-cameras and now that policy created in Devon and Cornwall has gone on to become international policy and we see many forces around the world use that framework for their use of body-cameras.

"We learned that we couldn't get licensing at the time regarding knives but now perhaps the time has come. There are millions of knives in circulation but this is a very good place to start and it will undoubtedly make a difference in years to come.

"These small ideas in small places can make a big difference."

Rayware, a Liverpool-based firm which owns several major kitchenware brands including Viners, created the point-less kitchen knives in response to the then rising reports of knife crime. They said changes in the law gave its product developers the idea to try and produce prototypes that could be sold safely in shops.

The UK Government took the decision to reclassify kitchen knives as an offensive weapon within the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 Act, leading some retailers including Asda and Tesco removing single knives from sale in retail stores.

At the time Kate O’Neill, head of product and marketing at Rayware, told our sister paper the Liverpool Echo that the plans had come from the "drip drip" effect of constant bleak headlines about rising knife crime.

She said: "The directors live locally and they all read the same news we all do. At the highest levels everybody felt really strongly about it. I think it was the drip drip effect of the headlines and publicity. From the very top we thought we can do something about this."

Kate said the prototype was created at the Speke site using a 3D printer, and extensive testing had taken place.

She said: "It is not possible to pierce the skin with a stabbing motion, it's impossible."

At the time the company said they hoped the knives would not only help reduce violence, but also prove safe options for vulnerable people with disabilities.

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