AMAZON has insisted it is meeting Home Office guidelines over age checks in the delivery of weapons bought online after schoolboy Bailey Gwynne was fatally stabbed with a blade bought on their site.
The world's biggest shopping website was slammed after it emerged that the schoolboy's 16-year-old killer bought the £40 knife on Amazon and avoided the internet giant’s age restrictions by having it delivered to his mother’s garden shed.
In March, Amazon signed up up to a new voluntary code on the sale of knives alongside other retailers including Tesco, Lidl, Argos, Morrisons, Asda, Poundland, Sainsbury's, John Lewis and Waitrose.
The voluntary agreement announced by then Home Secretary now Prime Minister, Theresa May on March 23 says traders should conduct proof of age checks at the point of purchase, collection or delivery under a voluntary agreement.
[Photo: Press Association]
Questions were raised after warnings over age-restricted knives on the Amazon website said that customers "may be" asked for age identification on delivery.
Amazon insists it is meeting all the Home Office requirements, saying that proof of age is only not required if it is obvious that the person taking delivery is over the minimum age of 25.
"We strictly follow all regulations in relation to the sale of age-restricted products, including requiring third-party companies delivering on our behalf to conduct age verification on delivery when required," said an Amazon spokesman.
Backbench Conservative MP David Burrowes is amongst those who demanded a change in the law which introduces a ‘triple lock’ check when selling knives, so retailers can prove whether they have taken all reasonable precautions to prevent underage sales and to avoid committing an offence.
He said all online retailers should be able to prove whether they have taken all reasonable precautions to prevent underage sales and to avoid committing an offence. He said the checks should include age verification on delivery; online age verification checks and follow-up offline checks.
He said after: "The government made it clear to me that they had agreed with the companies that age ID must be obtained. I would be very disappointed if companies liked Amazon try to weaken this agreement which led me withdrawing my [House of Commons] amendment to mandate that requirement. I will be raising this issue with ministers as soon as possible.
"If companies don't abide by the voluntary agreement, I will ask the government to make it a statutory, mandatory requirement."
An independent review into the killing of Bailey Gwynne, who was fatally stabbed at Cults Academy, one of Scotland’s highest performing state schools, on 28 October 2015, has said that the Scottish Government "should explore the further legislative controls that can be brought to bear" on the purchase of weapons online. It also calls on ministers to consider giving teachers more powers to search pupils suspected of carrying weapons.
The 16-year-old killer had been able to get around Amazon’s age-verification checks by pinning a note to his front door rather than accepting delivery in person.
Tributes to Bailey Gwynne outside Cults Academy after his death
The killer told a court he had bought the 8.5cm folding knife he plunged into Bailey’s heart in an argument over a biscuit from Amazon.
A jury cleared the teenager of murder but convicted him of the lesser crime of culpable homicide and was locked up for nine years.
The boy told police he bought the knife online “because they don’t check if you’re 18 or not”.
He added: “You just leave a note on the door saying there’s no-one in and asking for the package to be left in the shed.”
The boy said of the knife: “It just looked cool. It had a gold handle and green or blue dots on it.
“I think it said on Amazon, made of steel. It came in a sheath, not leather, but rectangular with a corner cut off.
“I had a knife because I’ve never fit in. I was trying to act tough and be cool..”
When the Home Office announced the voluntary agreement, it said Amazon "requires that all third-party sellers on its marketplace comply with the law on the sale of knives, including clearly listing products as for over 18s and requiring age verification on delivery. Those who do not are subject to action including potential suspension."
Buyers on Amazon are currently warned that age-restricted knives are not for sale to people under the age of 18 and that a signature will be required on delivery at the delivery address.
The site says that identification "may be" required in order to verify the age of the recipient. The age restriction details also states: "By placing an order for one of these items you are declaring that you are 18 years or over. These items must be used responsibly and appropriately."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will consider the report conclusions and recommendations carefully to identify any lessons to be learnt on what more could be done to further ensure the safety of our children and young people at school.”
The review found that the stabbing was "potentially predictable and avoidable" if other pupils who knew the killer took weapons to school had reported it to staff.
Bailey was stabbed once in a single blow that pierced his heart. However, Andrew Lowe, the child protection expert behind the report, said the pupil who struck the blow was not perceived by other children to "be violent or conducting in risky behaviour".
In fact, he was regarded as "quite a quiet boy" and his motivation for carrying weapons was regarded by some of those who knew as "just a form of bravado".
Witnesses at the trial that followed the stabbing claimed the killer repeatedly brought knives and knuckledusters to the school.
Aberdeen City Council, Police Scotland and NHS Grampian commissioned the review to identify any lessons that could be learned from the incident following the trial and tasked Mr Lowe, chairman of child and adult protection for Renfrewshire, with establishing the relationship between Bailey and the other boy before the stabbing.
The review was also asked to identify any necessary changes and developments needed in the youth justice system in Aberdeen. It found that an earlier incident in 2007, when Child A was in primary school and was said to have thrown rocks at another child, had "marginal" significance to the stabbing.
It calls on ministers to improve the resilience of schools to the threat posed by weapons and recommends that all parents should receive a letter from the school at the beginning S1 each year setting out the school rules and expectations on weapons, which should be signed and returned to teachers.
Pupil forums are also to be encouraged to develop safe processes to enable pupils to share their knowledge of weapons with teachers, and Police Scotland is to be notified of every incident of weapons being taken to school.
John Lewis, in support of a government initiative to tackle knife crime say they are no longer selling kitchen knives online.
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