MEMBERS of the public are being reminded about knife possession laws after police were alerted to a man having had more than 20 blades delivered to his house.

This week, Wiltshire Police say they were informed by Border Control of a package from the Netherlands containing 24 throwing knives of varying blade lengths being delivered to an 18-year-old man in Salisbury.

Officers visited the address to speak to the recipient who explained that he had bought them online "for his new hobby". 

The knives were found to be legal, but the man decided to voluntarily hand them over to police to be destroyed. No further action was necessary.

On the same day, officers were also alerted to a hunting knife being delivered to a 39-year-old man in Ludgershall.

Police say this was "a legitimate purchase for use in a professional capacity" and no further police action was required.

PC Sharon Duggan, from the Amesbury Area Community Policing Team, said: “The law in the UK means it is illegal to carry a knife or offensive weapon in a public place, except a folding pocket knife that has a blade less than three inches, without a reasonable excuse.

“Reasonable excuses include those who need them for work, like fishermen, carpenters or carpet fitters, but this only applies while they are actually at work.

“Certain knives, including flick knives, disguised knives or “zombie” knives, are banned completely.

“We know that many people own or use knives legitimately, often for their work, but we also need to keep the public safe, which is why we visited these two addresses to determine why these blades had been delivered.

“Thankfully, it appears that there was no suspicious circumstances in either case, and words of advice was all that was needed.

"We hope this provides reassurance that we will act on information given to us by other agencies and will do all we can to keep the public safe."