A successful newspaper campaign, run in partnership with police, has led to the law being changed to see so-called “zombie knives” effectively banned from the UK.

The Express and Star first raised the issue of the deadly combat knives, which can be up to two feet long and have names such as Zombie Killer, in July last year.

It came a month after 18-year-old Stefan Appleton was fatally stabbed in the chest by Blaise Lewinson, then 17, who is currently serving a minimum of nine years after being handed a life sentence for manslaughter in May.