Shops in Rossendale sold knives to a child as police take part in national week of action.

Rossendale Police teamed up with Trading Standards for operation sceptre, a national week of action to prevent and tackle knife crime.

A 14-year-old attempted to buy knives in eight shops across Rossendale. Four of the stores failed the test and sold knives to the underage shopper.

A police spokesperson said: “Operation sceptre is in full swing in Rossendale.

“Last night, we teamed up with Trading Standards to join the national week of action to prevent and tackle knife crime.

“Our 14-year-old volunteer managed to procure quite the collection of blades from some local shops and unfortunately out of eight stores we visited, four failed the test and sold knives to our sneaky shopper.

“While it’s not quite the “cutting” edge we were hoping for, we took the opportunity to remind the shopkeepers about challenge 25 and gave them a slice of knowledge about the risks associated with selling knives.”