An online knife retailer has defended supplying a “Black Panther” machete to the Southport killer which was intercepted by his father.
The seller denied it was “pretty offensive” to claim the machete, modelled on weapons used by the Gurkhas, was for agricultural use or fishing, saying it was “just another product”.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Stancombe, seven, were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 last year by Axel Rudakubana, using a knife purchased on Amazon.
He had earlier bought a series of three machetes, two of which were intercepted by his father.
Rudakubana, then aged 17, purchased a machete on 3 October 2023, nine months before the attack, from Knife Warehouse, using a driving licence for a black man born in Nigeria in 1961, and living in Uxbridge.
It was only found by police after Rudakubana’s prosecution when checking material cleared from the family home and taken for secure storage, still in its packaging and unopened.
Joseph Wheeler, who has run Knife Warehouse, with two others, from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire for the last 15 years, told the inquiry that the ID Rudakubana used “looked genuine”.
“The delivery name was the same as the driver’s licence, it appeared genuine, there was nothing suspicious,” he added.
He said he sold lots of pocket knives and “bushcraft knives” and that throwing knives and throwing axes had become “very popular”.
“We just try and be broad and cover everyone’s knife requirements,” he added.
Mr Wheeler said he thought the “Black Panther” kukri machete was “the style of blade” and “its primary design is to cut vegetation”.
Nicholas Moss KC, for the inquiry, said: “The driving licence belonged to a black gentleman in his 60s, living in Uxbridge and where was the order for the machete being delivered to?
“Banks in Lancashire, 200 miles from Uxbridge, did that not ring alarm bells?”
Mr Wheeler said he could not remember and added: “A lot of people have just moved.
“Sometimes they are getting it delivered to their mum while they are at work.”
Asked why the machete was entirely black when it was for agricultural purposes, he said it was “just how they come”, adding: “Black seems to be the most popular colour. People just prefer black.”
Mr Moss said “a black silhouette looks more sinister in the real world”, and Mr Wheeler replied: “I suppose so, yes.”
“There’s no suppose so, would you agree?” Mr Moss said. “Are you not aware that what kukri is most famed for is the weapon of choice for the Gurkhas?”
“Oh right, no,” Wheeler replied.
“It is the weapon used for a long time by the Gurkha regiment, were you really not aware of that? You didn’t realise it might have connotations of use by a military regiment known for their bravery and fierceness?” Mr Moss asked.
“I thought it was just the shape of the machete,” Wheeler said.
“A Black Panther kukri with black silhouette might be thought to be made to look as ferocious a weapon as possible,” Mr Moss added.
“In the real world, did it really never occur to you that a machete with a completely black silhouette is really speaking to its use as a weapon or to frighten or intimidate people? That’s the truth, isn’t it?”
Mr Wheeler told the inquiry: “Maybe. At the time, I didn’t think of it that way. That wasn’t my intention. I suppose some people will look at it like that.
“Now I wouldn’t sell them, at the time Black Panther didn’t mean anything to me, and I didn’t think of it as a weapon of particular menace, it was just another product.”
More from the inquiry:
Southport killer had anti-Islamic material, inquiry told
Taxi driver waited 50 minutes to call 999
Killer’s parents ‘knew risk he posed’
The missed chances to stop Rudakubana
The inquiry was told that Knife Warehouse also sold knives with the name “Rambo”, “Walking Dead” and “Cold Steel”.
Mr Moss asked: “Even at the time did you not pause to think that knives with those names had sounded like weapons?”
“No, they are very collectible,” Wheeler said, adding that they were named after films, TV shows and Cold Steel was a brand name from the US.
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He said that “movie knives” and machetes were removed from the website, and he was “thinking” of reducing the size of the knives to under eight inches or a pocket knife.
However, Mr Moss pointed out that there were still machetes on the site, but they were marked “out of stock”.
One, a Buckland Kukri Machete was described as “designed with a phenomenal curve angle that puts the full weight of the knife behind each cut and added: “It’s non-reflective, so won’t scare the fish away if you’re out on the lake!”
Mr Moss said: “To the outside observer, it is very obvious that the purpose of an entirely black machete is to make it look more sinister. Someone with sensible eyes from the outside world might think that?
“It is pretty offensive to pretend the reason for the machete being all black is to say that you are fishing and you don’t want to scare the fish?”
Mr Wheeler said: “I didn’t write that description. To be honest, I don’t know what that means.”
The inquiry continues.
