TOUGH new legislation is being demanded to fight back against Britain's growing knife culture and prevent children getting their hands on potentially lethal weapons.

A day after a teenager was killed in a school stabbing in Lincolnshire, officials revealed the shock results of an investigation into the availability of killer blades.

An awesome array of knives, axes and other edged weapons were collected both by using the Internet - with no age checks - and using a 14-year-old to make test purchases.

They included multi-edged 17in Rambo-style hunting knives, razor-sharp double-bladed throwing axes and a triple-bladed Ninja-style Cyclon spinning weapon.

Other vicious, super-sharp weapons with names such as cat skinners and throat slitters were also obtained.

The disturbing results of the month-long study will be used by Consumer Affairs Minister Gerry Sutcliffe to launch National Consumer Week on Monday.

The North Yorkshire trading standards team launched their investigation after an incident in a local school where a flick-knife concealed in a lighter was confiscated from a 15-year-old boy.

Shortly afterwards, 16 similar flick-knives were seized from a stall at a market in the county and others were seized at a shop in Scarborough.

The sale of any knife, blade, axe or similar item to the under-16s is illegal, but test purchases at nine retailers across the county found that half were prepared to sell them to children. They now face possible prosecution.

North Yorkshire's trading standards chief, Stuart Pudney, plans to use the results to lead a national campaign for tougher legislation to prevent such weapons falling into the wrong hands.

Attacks with knives or other sharp instruments are the most common method of killing in England and Wales, accounting for a third of all murders. The largest group of offenders are in the ten to 17 age group.

The county's executive member with responsibility for trading standards, Councillor Carl Les, said the results of the investigation had been horrifying.

"It scares me to look at the weapons that were collected, and is particularly poignant the day after a child was killed with a knife at a Lincolnshire school."

He added: "I cannot think of any legitimate or justifiable use for any of the lethal weapons that were being offered for sale."