"Possession of Blades/Points

Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 prohibits having with you, in a public place of any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed, (including a folding pocket knife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 7.62cm/3 inches) (Archbold 24-125).

Section 139A of the 1988 Act extends the geographical scope of both of the above offences to school premises.

For the purposes of sections 139 and 139A of the Act:

a butterknife, with no cutting edge and no point is a bladed article; (Booker v DPP 169).P.368, DC);
a screwdriver is not a bladed article; R v Davis Crim L.R. 564 CA);
a "lock knife" doe not come into the category of "folding pocket knife2 because it is not immediately foldable at all times; (R v Deegan 2 Cr. App. R. 121 CA).
Section 139AA of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence to unlawfully and intentionally threaten another person with an offensive weapon or bladed article in a public place or on school premises, in such a way that there is an immediate risk of serious physical harm to that other person.

For the purpose of this section, serious physical harm is defined as grevous bodily harm. The term 'public place' has the same meaning as in section 139 above and 'school premises' has the same meaning as in section 139A above.

Unlike an offence contrary to section 139, it matters not whether a person was initially in lawful possession.

Where a person is convicted of an offence contrary to section 139AA the court must (in the case of an adult) impose a custodial sentence of at least 6 months, unless it would be unjust to do so. the power to impose a community order is not exercisable where the mandatory minimum sentence condition is met.

In the case of a youth aged 16 or 17 when convicted, the court must impose a detention and training order of at least 4 months. The power to impose a youth rehabilitation order is not exercisable where the mandatory minimum sentence condition is met.

in addition, if a person is found not guilty (whether on indictment or not) of an offence contrary to section 139AA, but it is proved that they committeed an offence contrary to section 139 or 139A they can be convicted of the basic offence in the alternative.

Powers to search for blades/points

The police power to search school premises for bladed and pointed article and offensive weapons was amended by section 48 Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 with effect from 31 May 2007 and allows the police to exercise this power if there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence under section 139A (having a bladed or pointed article or offensive weapon on school premises) is being committed.

Section 550AA Education Act 1996 gives members of staff power to search school pupils for bladed and pointed articles and offensive weapons.

Section 85B Further and Higher Education Act 1992 gives members of staff power to search students at an institute for further education for bladed and pointed articles and offensive weapons. Section 47 Violent Crime Reduction Act 2007 extends this power to search to staff at attendance centres with effect from 1 October 2007."