UK: Man Slashed to Death in Brutal Machete Attack in Wolverhampton, Attacker Remains at Large

Police forensics officers search a cordoned off area in Woolwich, east London, on May 22,
CARL COURT/AFP via Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

In the latest horrifying killing in gun-free Britain, a man was slashed to death with a machete on the streets of Wolverhampton, England on Monday.

A murder inquiry has been launched by the West Midlands Police after they received an emergency call from a local resident who reported that a man was attacked with a machete at around 5:20 on Monday.

The victim, who is believed to be in his 20s, was pronounced dead on the spot by officers.

The police force said that the attacker is thought to have fled the scene of the murder on foot. They are now appealing to local residents to come forward if they have any information on the whereabouts or identity of the perpetrator.

“Anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed what happened, or who saw a man running away, is asked to message us on Live Chat via our website or call 101 quoting log 3705 from 13 July,” a spokesman for the West Midlands Police said in a statement.

A local resident told Black Country Live: “It is awful that some young man has lost his life. I really hope the police find the suspect and quickly.”

“Everyone on the street is shocked by this mindless violence and my thoughts go out to his family,” the local added.

Wolverhampton has been rocked by a spate of four stabbings over the past week alone, with two paramedics being stabbed on July 6 and another man being stabbed in the chest during an argument on July 12.

A local resident said that the attacks were a sign that the Chinese coronavirus “restrictions have been eased,” adding: “back to the usual insanity on the streets of Wolverhampton.”

Machetes — heavy long blades developed to cut through tropical undergrowth — have increasingly become the weapon of choice for criminals in the United Kingdom, where strict gun-control laws have been implemented.

A freedom of information request by the Daily Mail revealed that in November and December of 2019, police in Britain recorded 664 crimes with machetes, averaging 11 per day, or once every two hours.

The figures represented a steep increase from the same time period three years ago, which saw the use of machetes in just 100 crimes per month.

In reality, the number of machete related crimes is likely much higher, however, as only 34 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales contributed numbers to the data set, with epicentres of the knife crime epidemic, including London and Manchester, refusing to publish their machete statistics.

While the government has made some knives and swords illegal to sell, buy, or possess, the machete has not been listed as a banned weapon in the UK.

Research director for the Centre For Crime Prevention thinktank, David Spencer said: “This huge growth in the use of machetes by hardened criminals is deeply troubling. There is absolutely no reason for anyone in the UK to own a machete.”

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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