Man, 23, jailed for three years for online knife selling in the New Forest

An ‘overwhelming package of evidence’ has today (Friday 25 October) led to the imprisonment of a 23-year-old Totton man for the marketing of knives in the New Forest area.

Stefan Petrescu, of High Street, was jailed for three years at Southampton Crown Court today (Friday 25 October).

During a previous hearing at the same court, on Wednesday 4 October, Petrescu had pleaded guilty to one count of marketing combat knife by selling, one count of possession of a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid / gas / electrical incapacitation device, and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.

The conviction and sentencing follows an investigation into reports of the unlawful selling of knives and other prohibited weapons and firearms in the New Forest via social media platforms.

It follows a joint operation with the Metropolitan Police and culminated in a warrant at Petrescu’s address in August this year. As part of a thorough search of the property, officers recovered weapons, including a number of knives with Nazi insignias, CS gas and other prohibited items.

Petrescu was arrested and subsequently charged with numerous offences.

Sentencing Petrescu, the judge said, “These were ferocious and vicious weapons, which you were willing to supply to anyone, and could have been used to kill or harm people.

“One of the aggravating factors here was the use of drill music in the videos, including a track entitled, ‘Ready For War’.”

The judge also commended the officers involved in for their high standard of policing.

Speaking after today’s sentencing, Sergeant Andy Gwyer, of the New Forest’s Priority Crime Team, said: “I’m very pleased with the outcome of the investigation and the sentence handed down to Petrescu.

“The role of the Priority Crime Team is to tackle those who are committing the most harm and disruption to the lives of people living and working in the New Forest, and that is what has been achieved today.

“This investigation and conviction has contributed substantially to the disruption in the supply of weapons in the New Forest area.

“A combined effort, involving lots of hard work by a variety of officers and teams, has ensured that Petrescu was placed before the courts and held accountable for his crimes.”

As part of the investigation, a mobile device belonging to Stefan Petrescu was also seized, and following an extensive examination, a large sleuth of messages were located on the device which demonstrated the use of various social media platforms to send and receive messages to market the seized knives.

Sergeant Gwyer, continued: “Some of those messages were really quite stark and disturbing. People were requesting to buy knives from Petrescu, knives that would more than likely be used in further crimes, with specific mention of ‘shanking’ or harming individuals.

“The use of the internet allowed us to research Petrescu’s actions in such a way that we were able to build an overwhelming package of evidence against him.

“This significantly contributed to an early guilty plea, because, quite simply, he had nowhere to run.”

Addressing anyone thinking of doing similar, Sergeant Gwyer said, “Today’s sentencing should send out a very clear message.

“You will not get away with these types of crimes and we will work tirelessly to gather evidence, build a case and bring you before the courts to face justice.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for knife crime, Commander Stephen Clayman, said:

“The impact of Petrescu’s offending should not be underestimated and the fact he has now been brought to justice is testament to the hard work and dedication of the officers involved in this case.

“We know that individuals are using social media platforms to buy and also sell weapons indiscriminately; this is something we are closely examining in the ongoing end-to-end review of online knife sales commissioned by the Home Office.

“Reducing the accessibility of knives is one of the key components in our fight against knife crime.”

While knife crime remains relatively low in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, in comparison to other parts of the country, we will not be complacent, as this case should demonstrate.

We are continuously focusing our efforts and are committed to do everything within our legal power to tackle serious violence, working closely with our partner agencies and other organisations to ensure our local communities are safer.

You can read more on this, below;

Tackling Knife Crime | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

We all need to work together to combat knife crime and we would urge anyone with information on knife crime in their local community to please report it.

You can do this by calling 101 or by getting in touch with Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.