SAMURAI swords should be banned from sale, according to York MP Hugh Bayley in response to a Government consultation on the issue.

Mr Bayley first suggested a ban in 2005 following the jailing of Stephen Hammond and John O'Callaghan, who were imprisoned for a vicious attack on a York resident with one of the swords. Acomb resident Steven Johnson had his face cut and arm sliced open to the bone in the attack.

Mr Bayley said he again urged the Government to take action after the conviction of York man Daniel Rocks in January last year who had threatened to cut up three people "like little mice" with a Samurai sword.

The Government is now carrying out a consultation about adding Samurai swords to the list of offensive weapons whose manufacture, sale and importation is banned.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, weapons including knuckle-dusters and butterfly knives are already prohibited and Mr Bayley wants to see Samurai swords join them.

He said: "For two years I have been pressing the Government to ban Samurai swords. Three York men have been convicted and jailed for offences with these deadly weapons. Samurai swords are a particularly nasty and vicious type of knife.

"Six people have been killed with them in the past seven years. They are lethal and there are currently no restrictions on their trade.

"I want these swords to be banned before there is a further attack in York because next time the victim could be killed."

Mr Bayley said the Government had already tightened the law by banning a range of other potentially lethal knives.

He said that swords which were genuine collectors' items would be exempt from any ban, but believes they should have to be kept under the same conditions as guns.