ILLEGAL tools of torture will be on sale in Britain when the government-backed London Arms Fair starts on Tuesday next week.

Human rights group Amnesty International yesterday warned that, in previous years, the fair has featured internationally denounced illegal cluster bombs, torture equipment and imprisonment, including electric shock batons and leg irons.

These are expected to be offered alongside the usual array of missiles, tanks, killer drones, machine guns and other weapons.

The Defence and Security International fair welcomes buyers from some of the world’s most repressive regimes.

Amnesty arms programme director Oliver Sprague said: “This shouldn’t be happening — there are laws in the EU that prohibit the trade in torture equipment. But savvy companies are exploiting loopholes to trade in these items.

“This law needs to be tightened — we must not be complicit in equipping torturers.

“Despite promises to clamp down on this practice, no company has ever been prosecuted for peddling torture equipment at UK arms fairs.”

Protest meetings and events, including floating wreaths down the Thames, have been staged this week in the run-up to the arms fair, which takes place at the Excel exhibition centre in east London’s Docklands from Tuesday to Friday.

Blockades and protests are planned at the centre’s main entrance throughout the fair.