Knife firm showed 'no curiosity' after killer bought 'sinister' machete

COMPANY DIRECTOR ACCEPTS 'THERE'S POTENTIAL' TO USE KNIVES AS 'A WEAPON'

- By PATRICK EDRICH

AN online knife retailer director admitted he did not have any curiosity about who he sold to after the Southport killer ordered a “sinister” Black Panther machete.

Triple killer Axel Rudakubana was 17 when he paid just £25 for a Black Panther kukri machete, a blade commonly associated with the “brave and fierce” Gurkha military regiment, from retailer Knife Warehouse on October 3, 2023.

The Southport Inquiry heard that Rudakubana used a genuine driving licence for a man called “Samuel’, who lived in Uxbridge and was born in the early 1960s, to bypass the age verification policy on the Knife Warehouse website. When asked if any alarm bells rang about why a man in his 60s was ordering a 16in-blade machete to Banks around 200 miles from his home address, managing director Joseph Wheeler said: “No, I didn’t. Not at the time.”

Mr Wheeler, whose company specialises in pocket and throwing knives, added that the identification “appeared genuine” and “there was no suspicion”. But under questioning from inquiry chair Sir Adrian Fulford yesterday, Mr Wheeler confirmed he did not have curiosity about who his buyers were.

After Mr Wheeler confirmed he had sold “over 100” machetes in 2023, Sir Adrian asked: “Is it your evidence then that those machetes which your company sold, are all going to be used by whoever bought them to cut vegetation?” Mr Wheeler responded: “Well, I couldn't tell what their intentions were to be honest.”

The chair then asked: “Did you have any curiosity at all as to who was going to buy these items?” Mr Wheeler said: “Well I pay particular attention to what I would call gang areas?”