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PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Southport attacker bought a machete with a 16.5 inch blade from a knife retailer that showed “no curiosity” over who was buying its weapons, a public inquiry heard.<\/p>\n Axel Rudakubana purchased the blade online from the Knife Warehouse in October 2023, when he was 17.<\/p>\n Counsel to the inquiry Nicholas Moss KC said the weapon was “named and branded in a way to make it look as ferocious a weapon as possible”.<\/p>\n Rudakubana used a kitchen knife bought from Amazon when he carried out the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 2024, murdering Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Questioning Joseph Wheeler, managing director of the Knife Warehouse, Mr Moss said a machete “with a completely black silhouette, it might be thought, is named and branded in a way to make it look as ferocious a weapon as possible, is that fair?”<\/p>\n Mr Wheeler replied: “Maybe so. I never thought about that at the time or I didn’t think of it in that way.”<\/p>\n Inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford asked Mr Wheeler if he had “any curiosity at all” about who he was selling knives to, to which Mr Wheeler replied: “I suppose not, sir.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The inquiry heard that, when purchasing the machete, the killer used a driving licence which belonged to a man who was in his 60s and living in Uxbridge as age verification.<\/p>\n Mr Wheeler said he believed the ID was genuine, and when asked if it “rang alarm bells” that the knife was being delivered to a different address more than 200 miles away, he said he “didn’t spot anything or don’t remember anything at the time”.<\/p>\n The inquiry was shown photos of the package sent to Rudakubana, including a postage label which said “age verification” and “over 18 only”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Moss said Royal Mail, who delivered the parcel, had done checks and it appears the package was received by Rudakubana’s father, Alphonse.<\/p>\n The packaging did not advise that it contained a bladed item, which Mr Moss said was a legal requirement at the time.<\/p>\n He asked: “You did not meet your legal duty in that respect in terms of the delivery, would you agree?”<\/p>\n Mr Wheeler replied: “Well this is the first time I have seen this parcel but it appears not to be on there, yes.”<\/p>\n He said the business, based in Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire, had probably sold more than 100 machetes in 2023, but no longer stocked them.<\/p>\n He also said it now asked customers for proof of address as well as ID when verifying that they were over 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20250919-090805-05e5ba0164-web-2.30.1-2\/grey-placeholder.png\")
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PA Media<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nPackaging <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n