Crossing the Line: How JBB’s Knife Amnesty Ignored UK Law and Safeguarding Standards

The announcement

In 2024 Jayne’s Baby Bank briefly took on a very questionable project. On 30 April 2024 its page announced (the post):

Monday we are holding a knife/blade and weapon surrender for teenagers and young people. Items are dropped anonymously in our locked bin. We are encouraging young people (and older) to dispose of items they may have that are illegal and/or they may not know how to dispose of them. After the collection is done the police will be I formed to collect items from in the bin. Police are aware we are doing this, I don’t want to them to attend during the surrender as we want young people to be anonymous. We will be doing this periodically.

Her page, 30 April 2024

In the video with the post (the recording), Carrie-Anne Ridsdale, who also uses the name Jayne Price, explained:

We’re going to hold a knife and weapon armistice surrender for young people. … We’re going to turn the CCTV off. I’m not interested in your name, where you got it from, what you were going to do with it, how long you’ve had it. … And if any get dropped off, then we will ring the police and the police can come and collect them themselves.

Her video, 30 April 2024 (from a transcript of the recording)

In the same video she added: “because the police have done a knife and weapon armistice before.”

“Our first knife”

On 3 May 2024 her page posted “1st knife surrender”, with another video (the post, the recording). Two children had brought her a knife they had found in a park:

So, we’ve had our first knife. Two children approached me because they’d found this in the park. … And then the other thing was, like, I don’t really want people turning up at the shops with a knife. … And so I grabbed a bag because I thought, well, I don’t want my fingerprints all over it … So, I won’t take it out of the bag or anything like that. … they wanted to take it to someone they can trust, not to get them in trouble … I could have gone across the police station with them, but they just caught me on the off a bit.

Her video, 3 May 2024 (from a transcript of the recording)

She said she would write on the bag where the knife was found and where it was handed in, “and then any problems the police can trace it, can’t they?”

An offer of counselling

On 6 May 2024 she posted (the post): “Two knife surrenders from children under 16. If you want help in the UK and Ireland to dispose of weapons and knives and have support and counselling can you contact me please. Time to get knives out of school bags.” In the video with it (the recording) she said:

This is the first time anybody’s ever done this in the UK. It’s not the first time there’s been a knife on this, but it’s the first time people have done it for children. … So, staff, the bin will be locked back up. … If you feel like you want to stab somebody, you know, can you go in contact with us? … And we can give you a number that you can ring for support and advice. And we can get that set up for you to have some counselling.

Her video, 6 May 2024 (from a transcript of the recording)

Offering counselling may look well-meant. But taking on children who say they want to stab someone, without clinical training, safeguarding clearance or a qualified organisation behind you, puts them at real risk. She is not a registered nurse, and her nursing claims and her claims to be a “qualified health practioner” do not stand up.

Nor was it a “UK first”. She had said herself, a week earlier, that the police had run knife amnesties before. The claim misleadingly suggests an official, pioneering scheme.

What the law says

The law on knives is strict. It is an offence to carry a bladed or pointed article in public without good reason (Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 139), or an offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (Prevention of Crime Act 1953, section 1). Some weapons, including zombie-style knives and certain machetes, are banned outright (section 141 of the 1988 Act). Since the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, it is an offence even to keep those at home, and the official arrangements for surrendering them are set by government order. It is also illegal to sell most knives to anyone under 18 (GOV.UK).

That is why knife surrender is run by the police, often with partners, so that officers collect and record what is handed in. Her scheme asked children to carry knives through the streets to a private bin outside a shop, rather than to a police station.

Her scheme followed none of that. It was unsanctioned and unregulated. Her post said only that “Police are aware we are doing this”, and that she did not want the police at the bin. We have seen nothing to show that the police approved or ran it.

A knife that is handed in can be evidence of a crime. She seemed to know it: she bagged the first one “because I thought, well, I don’t want my fingerprints all over it”. But the drop-off was designed to leave no record of who handed in what, with the CCTV off and no names taken.

Our concerns

• Unsanctioned and unregulated. No police approval we can find, no police at the drop-off, the CCTV switched off, and no record of who handed in what.
• Handling. Knives were taken from children, bagged by her and kept in her bin until police could collect them. She told staff to leave the bin alone.
• Safeguarding. She offered counselling to children thinking of stabbing someone, with no clinical registration and no qualified partner named.
• “UK first”. The label suggested an official, pioneering scheme. It was neither.

In short, Jayne’s Baby Bank does not appear to have had the approval, training or oversight needed to run a knife surrender safely or to offer mental health support. The possible consequences, from legal trouble to harm to vulnerable young people, are serious.

But after everything we’ve seen, should we really be surprised?

What happened next

Six weeks after the surrender, on 18 June 2024, her page posted (the post): “We have been authorised to sell knives. Only available at the donation centre. Adults over 25 only . … Price whingers will be blocked and banned”.

On 27 January 2025 she pointed people to the police instead (the post): “Knife crimes are going up and up 😥 police will accept knives in 24/7 and to hand them in is anonymous at every police station”.

On 13 November 2025 she wrote (the post): “We had a lot of abuse off that idiot sherlock for trying to get knives from young people. We got 3 off kids all together.” She went on: “Knife amnesty needs to be easier and more anonymous and more accessible.”

Sources