There are TWO key points that the police/CPS take into account here:
Everything you need to know is here:
Take it from someone who is involved in the processing and issuing of summons’
I’m well aware of the law and what you will and will not get arrested for.
My whole point has been that just because the folding pocket knife complies doesn’t mean that all of the other sharply pointed bits are legal and won’t get you lifted if you don’t have a good excuse.
Okay;
So, coming back to the original point. There is no real reason why the cadets can’t carry them.
Whether they should do routinely is entirely another matter.
You may well be lucky, but I would imagine there are parts of cities / large towns where people may feel it is appropriate. I would see no difference between a blade/‘pointy thing’ and cans of spray women can carry to use as a deterrent.
I do wonder how many of those stabbed or shot, are within the gang set ups, but this never gets reported as it wouldn’t fit with the nice boy/girl next door image portrayed.
Also bear in mind that how you carry such items can affect the view the police take on them. If you have it in your pocket or attached to you while you are walking around town, the police may take a dim view. If you have it stowed in your kit in your car, or at the bottom of your bag if walking, it isn’t as accessible and your explanation as to why you have it will carry far more weight.
It does seem very odd that 5-0 would ignore the very sharp 2”, non-locking blade on my Leatherman but have an issue with the not-very-sharp, 1” screwdriver on the same tool.
That’s what happens when the people who write the law don’t think it all the way through. The folding pocket knofe exemption is
They wouldn’t care about the screwdriver on a multi-tool, why mess with the driver when there’s a blade next to it? Screwdrivers are charged however when they are carried as a weapon on their own. It just gives the police options.
I don’t like the folding knife exception. I think the Court of Appeal took a wrong step when it decided that a folding knife that locks is no longer a folding knife. Locking blades are actually safer than free folding ones.
There is a bit of confusion being caused by terms here, to me a multi-tool is a leather man or a gerber type, it has a saw and knife with a locking blade as well as screwdrivers, pliers etc. The OP talked about a multi-tool without a locking blade, in my eyes that’s a Swiss Army knife of knockoff which has a crappy pen knife, corkscrew, nail file and thing for getting stones out of horses hooves.
TBH it all seems to be a bit confused just like anything pertaining to legalese, it depends on the weather, what side of bed someone got out of bed etc, it’s never definitive.
The whole area if blades/pointy things is a mess. I don’t know why for instance someone under 16 can’t possess or buy a knife, even to the point of dinner table knives, when as it seems from the incidents the people are over 16. Won’t stop people getting stabbed, but that’s neither here or there. Just like the laws around gun ownership hasn’t prevented people getting shot.
I have remembered people buying flick combs and removing the combs, leaving the metal bit that could be used for other reasons. Don’t if they are still around.
There are thousands of stabbings a year in London alone carried out by Teenagers under 16, up until 2 years ago Steak/Kitchen Knives were the weapon of choice hence why kids can’t buy them. There had been a tendancy (which you can see on Police Social Media) recently for these kids to be carrying much larger knives which they can buy online. (You can get what’s advertised as movie props for around £40 which are actually full on Combat knifes).
What’s the stated case that Leathermams are legal to carry?
The only stated case I can find is the one that states a knife with a locking blade is not a folding pocket knife.
Leathermans lock, therefore if the blade is longer than 7.62cm, then Harris v DPP applies and you need a good reason to carry them. (GOOD REASON, not Lawful Excuse for bladed articles.)
I am not aware of any case featuring a Leatherman which exempts them from that one.
Surely the Harris case says that if the blade locks it’s not a folding pocket knife, if it’s not a folding pocket knife then blade length doesn’t apply anyway.
So if it has a 1” blade and locks then it’s not a folding pocket knife and you need a reason to have it.
Most leathermans don’t lock as far as I know - my small one certainly doesn’t.
If I sharpen the edge of my screwdriver, I wonder if I could argue that it’s now a knife and thus legal?
Only if your screwdriver folds…
I thought Letgermen generally locked? My work one does, although i tend to use a Gerber. Maybe they have stopped locking them to get round the legislation.
My screwdriver does fold, that was the point!
Yes, exactly. But I don’t think that was what the statute was meant to prevent, the Court of Appeal decided subsequently that as soon as the knife locks, it ceases to be a folding knife. (It’s a legal fiction in some ways.) And therefore locking knives now need good reasons to be carried.