It is a weapon so lethal it is still used by special forces for “silent kills”. But HuffPost UK has found that anyone armed with just a credit card and an internet connection can buy one with ease.
For £190, a crossbow capable of firing aluminium bolts at 340 feet per second – 373kph – can be bought online, without stringent checks. Smaller models cost as little as £29.95.
When HuffPost UK investigated, the process took around 10 minutes to complete, with the only requirement being a checkbox to say the buyer is over the age of 18.
A number of recent high profile attacks have raised concerns the law on crossbows may not be fit for purpose.
Deaths from crossbows in the UK are rare – there was only one in 2018 and two so far this year, but incidents of injury, threatening behaviour and animal abuse are more common.
Gerald Corrigan had retired to North Wales to live “a peaceful life” and was adjusting the satellite dish outside his home on April 19 when a crossbow bolt pierced the 74-year-old’s body, inflicting “horrendous life-changing injuries”.
The former lecturer died 22 days later with his partner Marie, and his son and daughter, Neale and Fiona by his side.
Terence Whall, 39, was convicted on Monday of his murder and has been jailed for a minimum of 31 years.
DCI Brian Kearney who investigated the case, told HuffPost UK that the arrow that killed Corrigan had been modified with a “hunting attachment”.
“These attachments cause devastating injuries and are used to hunt large game in countries where these activities are legal,” he said.
Numerous types of hunting attachments for crossbows can be bought on Amazon, with no checks.
Although rare, the death of Corrigan isn't an isolated case – in May, a two-year-old girl was shot in the head with a crossbow bolt at a house in Liverpool.
In March, police officers in Wales said they “feared for their lives” when a man who said he was hearing voices in his head threatened them with a crossbow.
And in June, two calves were shot at a farm in Warwickshire, one fatally.
Andy Simeon, a former SAS team medic, told HuffPost UK: “In terms of lethality crossbows were originally used for killing armoured knights.
“Serbian special forces and Spanish Green Berets still use them for ‘silent kills’.”
Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, has been trying to get the law on purchasing crossbows changed ever since she was made aware of a vulnerable person in her constituency in possession of one of the weapons.
“I had a constituent who had some severe mental health challenges who was able to access a crossbow,” Maskell told HuffPost UK
“As it happens, his target was the wall of his flat but it just shows exactly how people at risk can so easily access these kinds of weapons.
Maskell also had a number of letters from constituents saying that cats in the York area were being used as target practice.
“Some were seriously injured as a result,” she says. “You look into it and you suddenly you realise that here is a lethal weapon which is readily available for any unsavoury person to use in the wrong way.”
The spotlight on violent crime in the UK has inevitably fallen on bladed weapons and the rising number of stabbings, particularly in London, has even prompted some retailers to remove single kitchen knives from sale.
And in 2016, the Home Office took action and banned the sale and manufacture of so-called “zombie knives”. Ministers launched a crackdown on the blades, which can be up to two foot-long with a serrated edge and carry images or words that glamorise violence.
Inspired by horror films and often advertised as collectors’ items, they were available on the internet for as little as £10.
Maskell believes something similar should be done about crossbows. “Clearly there is an inadequate level of security checks around purchasing crossbows. The only check is your age. [Sellers] don’t need to know your history or background.”
A Home Office spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Crossbows are subject to strict controls and retailers are banned from selling them to a person under the age of 18.
“We keep legislation under review and will consider the risk such weapons pose to public safety and if further measures are needed.”