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Vigilante Dad Swaps Knives For JD Sports Vouchers

Vigilante Dad Swaps Knives For JD Sports Vouchers

His informal amnesty is proving to be hugely popular

Amelia Ward

Amelia Ward

A London-based dad is taking the current nationwide battle against knife crime into his own hands - by swapping weapons for JD Sports vouchers.

Faron Paul, 31, runs an informal knife amnesty, offering people the chance to get in touch with him and exchange vouchers for knives, which he then hands in to police.

People can use his social media to get in touch with him to do the swap - but Faron never hands their details over to police, he just passes on his own.

Speaking to Sky News, he explained: "Why would any young kid walk in to a police station and hand in a knife? They think it will lead to more problems for them.

"But they trust me and that's why they message me on social media to help them out."

Instagram/@officialfaz

He says the unofficial scheme is so popular and growing so quickly that he's struggling to keep up, adding: "At the moment, I'm getting way too many messages every day for me to deal with and requests from as far away as Cardiff and Liverpool."

Faron has shared images of some of the weapons he has recovered from people across the UK thanks to his #FazAmnesty.

"It's dangerous work so I try to protect myself with a stab proof vest and I normally have a friend and my dog with me, too. But you never know.

"But every time I take a knife off the street I am probably saving a life and stopping someone from going to jail.

Faz shares some of the images of weapons he has handed to police.
Instagram/@officialfaz

"To me that is worth the risk. I'm trying to help build a better future for the next generation and a situation where local communities don't need to live in fear.

"Everybody wants to know why I do this - I do it because I have kids and I want them to live long and happy lives."

Instagram/@officialfaz

Following a wave of knife crime across the UK, others are taking action - including supermarket ASDA. The huge chain has decided to ban sales of all single kitchen knives at its stores by the end of April 2019.

Speaking to The Independent, Asda's senior vice president, Nick Jones said: "We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to support the communities that we serve.

"Whilst we have already taken steps to restrict the sale of knives to ensure that they do not fall into the wrong hands, we felt there was more we could be doing to support those looking at how to bring this issue under control.

"We know single knives are the most common knife products to be stolen and that is why we have chosen to remove these items from our stores."

Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@officialfaz