UK knife laws: More silliness

More silliness from the UK:

A Norfolk grandfather has become one of the most unlikely targets of the clampdown on street stabbings - after being arrested for carrying a pocket knife in public.

Builder Colin Read was held for police questioning, had his fingerprints, DNA and mug-shot taken and was threatened with prosecution for carrying the knife which has been the tool of his trade for more than a decade. He believes he was the unwitting victim of a tightening of laws, following a series of tragedies across the country.

The 64-year-old only realised that the blade, which measures less than three inches, was a banned weapon after visiting Norwich Magistrates' Court over a speeding matter - the first time in his life he has been in trouble. He voluntarily handed the knife to security guards only to be told they had no option but to call the police.

Mr Read, from Hevingham, said: “I've never been in trouble or put a foot wrong with the law in my entire life until now. Now I've had to live with the stress of a potential jail sentence hanging over my head.”

Home Office guidelines state that it is an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason - for example a chef carrying knives to work. The maximum penalty is four years in prison and a fine of £5,000.

Knives where the blade folds into the handle, like a Swiss army knife, are not illegal, as long as the blade is shorter than three inches. This is because it would be difficult to use them to cause a serious injury. But those with a lockable blade - like Mr Read's - or Stanley and kitchen knives are banned.

Article here. The article has a photo of Mr. Read holding a small lockback pocket knife, reportedly similar to the one he was arrested for carrying. The inanity of the United Kingdom's knife laws are an example of what happens when you mix incompetent socialist politicians (forgive the redundancy) with an apathetic electorate that won't stand up for their rights, all aided and abetted by a derelict judiciary and a leftist-minded press. British subjects have dug themselves a deep hole, from which they may not ever emerge.