‘Malcolm bravely sought to stand up to the youth, for which he paid with his life,’ Zoe Johnson QC, prosecuting, told jurors.
A knife that killed a brave college student who stepped in to stop a fight was one of 15 deadly weapons bought from the same online store by a teenager in just nine months.
Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, died after the 15in jackal ‘zombie knife’ was plunged into his heart when he intervened in a scuffle after school outside his sixth-form college in Clapham, South London.
His 17-year-old killer was handed the weapon by Treynae Campbell, 19, who had built a terrifying armoury of blades bought from the website Knife Warehouse. Both teenagers were also at the college.
This weekend, a ‘zombie knife’ identical to that used to kill talented student Malcolm was being advertised on the website for £19.99.
Chillingly, an investigation by The Mail on Sunday has established that at least one other murder has been carried out using a knife bought from the website. And Joe Wheeler, the owner of Knife Warehouse, was given a police caution in 2015 for marketing his knives as ‘suitable for combat’ – yet is still allowed to trade.
In a harrowing interview, Malcolm’s parents last night called on police to investigate Wheeler, a 36- year-old father-of-two, and for the authorities to shut down his firm. ‘If this site did not exist, then my son may still be alive today,’ said his father Olumide Wole-Madariola. ‘When I found out that Treynae had bought 15 knives from one shop, I was stunned.
‘How does it not raise a red flag? Why does an inner-city kid from London need all those knives?
‘I think the site should be closed down and the man responsible should face the consequences. He shares responsibility for my son’s murder. I don’t know how he sleeps at night.’
Malcolm died last November when he was stabbed outside Clapham South Underground station as pupils left the nearby sixth-form college St Francis Xavier. An Old Bailey trial heard that he intervened when the 17-year-old killer tracked down another youngster a few days after they had exchanged ‘unfriendly eye contact’ and began threatening him.
‘Malcolm bravely sought to stand up to the youth, for which he paid with his life,’ Zoe Johnson QC, prosecuting, told jurors.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of murder. He will be sentenced next month and already has a conviction for knife possession.
Campbell was cleared of murder but admitted possessing a knife. As she sentenced him to 28 months at a Young Offenders Institute last month, Judge Wendy Joseph said: ‘It is a hunting knife; blade is 25cm, 4.3cm wide; sharp; serrated.
‘It is designed for eviscerating deer and it is a fearsome object. The reason you had the knife is not entirely clear – you had bought 15 such items online.’
The knife that struck the fatal blow was made by Anglo Arms. Earlier this year, this newspaper revealed how police in London have confiscated more than 30 weapons made by the UK company in just one month.
Mr Wheeler has boasted that Knife Warehouse is the ‘Number One Hit’ for people searching for ‘knives’ on Google. It was certainly the choice of ‘County Lines’ drug dealer Ashraf Hussan, 20, who was given a life sentence in February for the knife murder of Peter Anderson, 46, last July, the UK Daily Mail reports.