15-05-2025
EXCLUSIVE Fury as children are being advertised stab-proof vests for £50 on social media as Britain's youth knife crime epidemic soars to record highs
British children are being advertised stab-proof vests for £50 on social media in a 'dangerous' new trend campaigners fear will put lives at risk, MailOnline can reveal.
Videos seemingly aimed at youths have appeared on TikTok and Snapchat in the past few weeks flogging body armour, with clips being viewed thousands of times.
It comes amid claims terrified teenagers fear being stabbed in schools or outside their homes as Britain's knife crime crisis continues to spiral out of control.
In one video, uncovered by MailOnline, youths wearing face masks and balaclavas are seen gathered around a Lamborghini Gallardo before showing off the stab vests.
In another, those advertising the defensive kit say they can protect children 'going out to collect milk for their mothers' as well as gangsters venturing into enemy territory.
But anti-knife campaigners say the videos risk 'glamorising' knife violence and have demanded the Government takes swift action.
Adam Brooks, whose father was brutally hacked to death by a machete gang almost 34 years ago, feared the trend will lead to a fresh wave of bloodshed.
He told MailOnline: 'This is a worrying development and it needs to be stamped out pretty quickly.
'The dangerous thing about this group selling stab vests is that it will lure young kids into a false sense of security thinking they will be all right.
'It worries me kids could think they're indestructible and suddenly come unstuck.
'These "vests" won't protect them from being stabbed in the face, neck or legs. It will encourage children to stab each other. It will make young people more of a target.'
In the UK, there are currently no legal restrictions on the purchase and ownership of stab protection products. Likewise, selling them is not illegal.
The group behind the videos flogging the stab vests are believed to be based in Birmingham - but claim they can ship their products nationwide.
Analysis by MailOnline has revealed at least one of the clips was filmed in the Yardley district of the city - which is the constituency of Labour MP and Home Office minister, Jess Phillips.
In one video filmed in a car park at night, a man dressed in a red coat and black and white keffiyeh - a traditional Middle Eastern headdress - is seen sitting a pick-up truck sporting one of the stab vests.
'Salam Alaikum my people,' he says. 'We say if you've got to get milk for your mum from the "op block" - get a stab-proof vest... you shouldn't have "ops" anyway, but if you do, get a stab-proof.'
In one video, filmed outside a KFC in Birmingham, a young male is seen being confronted by two other youths before running off to collect a stab-proof vest
Another youth wearing a black ski mask, sunglasses, bucket hat and black, Stone Island trousers, adds: '£50 a vest, delivery to all over the UK. You heard my boy.'
An 'op' is a slang term often used in rap or gang culture relating to an 'adversary' or 'enemy'.
In another video, this time filmed at the back of a KFC in Birmingham 's Yew Tree Retail Park, one male is seen rowing with two others youths.
A caption on the video reads: 'Don't get caught lacking this summer', followed by a 'sun' and 'knife' emoji.
The boy is then seen sprinting away to a group of six men, most wearing balaclavas and ski masks, before one puts a stab vest on him.
The lad then turns back to confront the pair as they dash away - with the video fading to an advert for the stab vest saying: 'Don't get caught lacking this summer'.
The disturbing new trend comes amid fears Britain's knife crime epidemic has reached unprecedented levels of violence, with campaigners warning the nation's streets are turning into a blood-soaked 'hellscape'.
Mr Brooks, who was 11 when his father Alan was hacked to death by a machete gang after banning a group of drug dealers from his pub in July 1991, is among those campaigning for change.
The father-of-three - who was previously stabbed and used to carry a knife when he was younger - said the authorities must intervene to stop the sale of body armour to children and young people.
'This is sending a terrible message to youths. It highlights just how bad Britain's streets have become,' he warned.
'This will encourage a wave of knife crime and bloodshed across the UK. It's irresponsible and dangerous.
'This is the sad state of affairs that we are in... This could drag normal youths into gang violence or knife violence. This could escalate the problem.'
Influencer publican Mr Brooks - who runs the Three Colts boozer in Buckhurst Hill, Essex - feared the vests could also lead to tragic accidents.
'Groups of friends could try out how good these vests are and accidentally stab their mates to death while testing out them out. That's the sort of tragedy we could see,' he warned.
He is calling for mandatory five-year sentences for adults caught carrying blades on the street, and three years for youths.
It comes amid a 'national emergency' which has seen the scourge of knife crime spread to every corner of England and Wales.
County lines drugs gangs and rival cartels are warring in city streets while youngsters in towns are carrying knives into school and slaughtering children in parks.
Mr Brooks has teamed up with Norman Brennan, a former police officer and director of the Law and Order Foundation, t o launch a petition calling for tougher penalties for knife yobs.
So far, around 35,000 people have signed up to the campaign calling for a debate in parliament. The target is 100,000.
Mr Brennan - who was almost stabbed to death tackling a burglar while serving as a cop in London - warned the 'tsunami' of bloodshed washing over Britain had now reached apocalyptic levels.
'This is a national crisis. It is an emergency like I've never seen. We are heading to the abyss,' he told MailOnline over the weekend.
'We have slipped into a tide of anarchy. There's no police on the streets. The public don't feel safe. Criminals walk around now feeling untouchable.
'I predicted this knife crime epidemic 20 years ago. I've been warning governments of all political colours of the perfect storm that was coming - and now it's here. It's a tsunami... it's a tide of bloodshed.'
The revelation seems to echo a hard-hitting advert by the C hildren's Society in 2019 for a fake online shop selling child-sized stab-proof vests.
The organisation launched the 'The Store of Modern Childhood' in a bid to raise money for vulnerable children by taking users to a donation page when they click on the advert.
All of the fake products on the site were listed as free, with users able to make a donation of £12 - £50, which went towards helping the charity's mental health services across England and Wales.
At the time, it was part of an effort showing how children's happiness in Britain had fallen to its lowest level in a decade.
The stab-proof vest promised to fit children aged 11 to 18 with the description saying children are able to 'wear it in or out of school to stop all but the most determined blades!'
Last month campaigners in Wales warned the campaign was now becoming a reality, with teens buying stab vests online and wearing them to school or stashing them in bushes near their homes.
Reformed drug dealer-turned-anti-knife campaigner Wes Cunliffe, of Newport, said a series of high-profile killings of teens were fuelling fears among children.
'A lot of young people I know are wearing stab vests because they're thinking someone could attack at any given time,' Mr Cunliffe, 34, told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.
'When you see things like Temu come up on your apps, it actually comes up with stab vests. And then they stash them locally around the communities and estates in Newport.'
Mr Cunliffe now works with children and has been a youth mentor for eight years. He says he is increasingly being told young people are now carrying blades out of 'fear'.
He added: 'Everywhere you look on social media, you see young people, balaclavas on, attacking each other with machetes, knives, hammers, screwdrivers. The violence is absolutely unreal.'
Back in Birmingham, and the city is among one of the worst affected by knife crime in England and Wales outside of London.
West Midlands anti-knife crime mentor Malachi Nunes said: 'Knife crime is higher in the West Midlands because young people here follow the trend of what's happening in the capital. London has a big influence on cities like Birmingham.
'More young people are carrying knives now because their school friends are being stabbed and they don't feel safe, even at school.'
The West Midlands Police area - which covers Birmingham - last year had the highest rate of knife crime offences in England and Wales, according to a national study.
Offences involving a knife per 100,000 of the population, in the force area in 2023, totalled 180, up from 167 in 2022. Over the same period, London's Metropolitan Police force had a total of 165.
Overall however, across all West Midlands regional forces, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show crime has fallen by five per cent.
