Samurai swords to be banned

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will tomorrow outlaw the manufacturing and import of the dangerous martial arts weapons.

Anyone breaking the law will face jail or a £5,000 fine.

In May, a gang armed with Samurai swords and machetes struck at three pubs in Salford in an hour, threatening staff and fleeing with cash. In June, a boy fought off a gang of masked robbers who burst into his home in Rochdale and attacked his father with Samurai swords.

Police say the swords are increasingly being used on the streets as a `macho' weapon and should be taken out of circulation.

Home Office figures show there have been nearly 100 crimes involving Samurai swords since 2003 and at least six people have been murdered by people using them.

In 2000 former Liberal Democrat MP Nigel Jones was attacked and his assistant killed by a man wielding a Samurai sword. Two months ago, thieves used one to rob a security van of £40,000 in Northampton.

The ban will be total. Only genuine historical Samurai swords displayed in museums for instance, will be exempt.

Samurai swords will be banned, the Government is due to confirm tomorrow - heralding a victory in an Express & Echo campaign.The long-awaited move to outlaw the deadly weapons follows a string of samurai sword attacks in recent years.

Bradley Moran was jailed for 17 years for murdering 33-year-old Sidmouth man Matthew Stiling following an argument in a nightclub in 2005.

In the wake of Mr Stiling's death in 2005, the Echo launched its campaign to press for the banning of the weapons, which received the backing of Mr Stiling's family, Exeter police chiefs, council leaders and city MP Ben Bradshaw.

The ban is likely to be targeted at cheap imitation samurai swords, rather than the more expensive genuine collectors' items made by licensed swordsmiths in Japan.