North East children say they feel 'safer' as zombie knife and machete ban comes into force
Katie Cole spoke to the mother of murdered Sunderland teenager Connor Brown about the potential impacts of the zombie knife ban
Children in the North East have said they feel "safer" after a ban on zombie knives and machetes came into force on Tuesday.
It is now illegal to own the items following a month-long amnesty for people to hand in the blades.
The ban relates to any item with a blade longer than eight inches, with a plain cutting edge and sharp point. Items with either a serrated edge, more than one hole or multiple sharp points which the Government say have no legitimate purpose are also banned.
Anyone found with the blades will now face up to four years in prison.
The zombie knife and machete ban explained
There has been a significant rise in the number of reported crimes involving machetes and zombie knives across the country since 2019 with the North East amongst the worst affected areas.
Many of the incidents have involved young people.
At a recently reopened community hub in Sunderland, set up in memory of murdered 18-year-old Connor Brown, young people have told ITV Tyne Tees they are hopeful the ban will make a difference.
"I'm happy that they are banned because I feel safer," one said.
"Terrifying, they're horrible," another added. "There will be less chance of kids getting a hold of one and adults as well. It is horrifying to see them."
"They're bad and they should have been banned straight away," a third boy said. "They shouldn't even need them."
Their views have been shared by Connor's mum, Tanya, who has dedicated her life to fighting knife crime since her son's death in 2019.
"They should have been banned a long time ago but it is in place now and that's really, really important," she said. "They are scary to look at, to hold them and the people selling them, I can't even understand.
" I do think that a lot of people will feel a lot safer knowing others can't get a hold of them as easy as they have been able to."
The Sunderland Pavilion Community Centre had lay abandoned for 10 years before it was reopened by the Connor Brown Trust and the Pallion Action Group.
It has been credited with reducing anti-social behaviour in the area by 80% since it reopened in July.
The centre's boss Karen Noble says it is an example of the next steps that can be taken in the fight against knife crime following the zombie-knife ban.
"I think we need to engage more with our young people," she said.
"The only way we can do that is by funding youth groups, community centres and after-school clubs.
"There's a big bright world out there and it's easy to get into other things but we need to be really thinking about getting them into positive activity."
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