A disturbing array of disguised knives are on sale for pocket-money prices on a controversial fast-fashion website.
The Daily Mail bought a range of sinister illegal weapons from the Shein website for as little as 95p, with no age checks. Blades are concealed within what seem to be keys, a lipstick, and even a credit card. Some are brazenly billed as being for ‘self-defence’.
Yet it is illegal for anyone to carry a weapon for self-defence, and all ‘disguised’ knives are banned from sale and possession for adults, let alone children.
Despite concerns about Shein’s Chinese roots and disputed claims of products made with slave labour, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Labour business spokesman Jonathan Reynolds have met company chairman Donald Tang to encourage a proposed £50 billion flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
But last night former Tory justice secretary and judge Sir Robert Buckland said: ‘To sell lethal weapons in this way is just criminal, plain and simple. No reputable company should be flouting the law by selling knives to our kids.’
Chartered Trading Standards Institute spokesman Kerry Nicol added: ‘No responsible British retailer sells knives like these, to adults or children.’
The Mail’s frightening purchases are revealed in the week two 12-year-olds were convicted of killing Shawn Seesahai, 19, with a machete in Wolverhampton.
Shein abandoned its planned flotation on the US stock exchange after politicians raised concerns over its communist China origins and allegations that sweatshops make its clothing.
But it was a concerned British mother who alerted the Mail to the concealed knives.
Within seconds of opening Shein’s website we had ordered, without any proof of age required:
It means the entire cache was bought for around £10, and delivered in the post soon after. The weapons could easily be smuggled into a school in a blazer pocket.
Youth knife crime campaigner Patrick Green, of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: ‘When you can get these delivered without any age verification, it’s no surprise the streets are awash with knives.
‘Why would a ‘responsible retailer’ provide knives ideal for sinister criminal purposes?’
When contacted by the Mail, a spokesman for Shein tried to downplay the story by suggesting similar knives were available elsewhere. She said later: ‘Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We have strict controls on the sale of knives and when we identify a violation, we investigate and work quickly to remove the product.’