Mum of Doncaster stabbing victim says zombie knife ban not enough

  • Video report by Jonathan Brown

The mother of a young man who was stabbed to death on a night out says the government's ban on so-called "zombie knives" does not go far enough.

Lisa Theobald's son Ryan, 20, and his friend Janis Kozlovskis, 17, were murdered outside a bar in Doncaster in January 2022.

After Ryan's death a knife surrender bin was installed at Bessacarr Football Club, where he played.

Ahead of a change in the law to extend the ban on zombie knives and machetes, Ms Theobald visited the site this week to see the bin being emptied.

Ten blades, including hunting knives and bayonets, were removed.

"All these knives should be illegal, not just zombie knives and machetes," she said.

"There's all these other different knives... it's got to be all of them.

"The police aren't doing enough. Or, should I say, the government aren't doing enough."

Amrit Jhagra was given a life sentence with a minimum of 24 years in prison. Credit: South Yorkshire Police

The murders of Ryan and Janis happened after a group they were with was involved in a fight with another group. The incident was caught on CCTV.

Killer Amrit Jhagra, 19, was later jailed for life.

Ms Theobald said her life has not got any easier.

"I thought it would, but it doesn't," she said. "I think about him every day."

The possession of so-called “zombie” knives, currently defined by the government as a blade with “a cutting edge, a serrated edge and images or words suggesting it is used for violence”, is already illegal.

Under the new measures, the Home Office said the definition will include any bladed weapon more than eight inches long with a plain-cutting edge and sharp pointed end that also has either a serrated cutting edge, more than one hole in the blade or multiple sharp points like spikes.

South Yorkshire charity Always an Alternative charity, which operates knife surrender bins, has collected 1,500 weapons of various types which will be blunted and turned into artwork.

Founder Anthony Olisende said: "There's a whole catalogue of weapons to hurt people that don't fall under this new law.

"We've been doing this so long and the change we've seen is not hardly worth the effort that we've made, but we still keep going on and we still keep fighting."

The government said it was determined to cut down on knife crime.

Policing and crime minister Dame Diana Johnson said: "We're also going to be consulting on another ban around ninja swords that was in our manifesto too."