APRIL 2007
We prepare
a monthly summary of gun incidents, focussing on those that raise key
issues about the nature of gun crime and the adequacy of gun legislation. Items that
have been amended or added to the list since the
Summary was written are marked (*).
ENGLAND
Wiltshire Times & Chippenham News,
30 April 2007
A motor home owner was
threatened at gunpoint by an armed man who tried to steal the vehicle
while its owner attempted to park it in Upton Scudamore. The
owner fought back and managed to drive off to safety.
Evening Star,
30 April 2007
Armed police were called to a
picnic area in Felixstowe after four men were spotted brandishing
firearms. The men, aged about 19 and 20, were detained. The
officers recovered ten BB guns,
including replicas of MP5, AK47 and shotgun weapons. The weapons had
been bought from a market, according to police who said their improper use
was "grossly irresponsible".
BBC,
30 April 2007
Five teenagers have been
arrested after mobile phone footage of a group brandishing guns was
discovered. Police launched a series of raids in Ellesmere Port,
Cheshire, and a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old have been charged with
possession of an imitation firearm.
Two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old have been referred to the Youth
Offending Team.
BBC,
30 April 2007 *
A 12-year-old girl was
shot in the head and critically injured in an incident at a house in
Gorton, Greater Manchester. She later died in hospital (BBC,
1 May 2007). A handgun converted to fire live ammunition was
apparently found at the house.
A boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder
and with possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition (Manchester
Evening News, 2 May 2007). The girl's mother has pleaded guilty
to possession of the pistol which killed her daughter (see
September 2007 Incidents)
and her 17-year-old brother has admitted her manslaughter (see
October 2007 Incidents).
BBC,
30 April 2007
A woman was shot in the face
in Broomhall, Sheffield. Police say she was the accidental
victim of a targeted attack by two men, her companion was the intended
target in the attack. Several shots were fired and the victim was
taken to hospital for treatment.
This is Cheshire,
29 April 2007
A security man collecting cash
from a shop in Gorse Covert, Warrington, threatened by a man armed
with a handgun. The gunman stole a large amount of cash. No
shots were fired and nobody was injured.
BBC,
28 April 2007
There were two separate
shooting in London, one of which left one man dead. The fatal
shooting happened in Brixton, south London, where the victim was
pronounced dead at the scene. Another man was shot after being
chased by two men in Leyton, east London. He was in a stable
condition.
BBC,
28 April 2007
A man was injured in a
shooting at a party in a flat in Leicester. The victim was
taken to hospital where his condition was described as "serious but
stable".
Bromsgrove News,
27 April 2007
Police were probing an
incident in Rubery in which airgun
pellets were fired into a family's back garden. No one was hit but
the police warned that the weapons were not toys and that pellets fired
from them could cause serious injury and death.
BBC,
27 April 2007
Steven Bevens has been jailed
for life for his part in the murder of a man who was shot in his car at
Marsden, south Tyneside, in May 2006 (see
Incidents). He had admitted luring
the victim to the spot but denied firing the fatal shots. Another
man had already been jailed for four years in connection with the shooting
and another third man is being sought.
Goole and Howden Courier,
26 April 2007
An 18-year-old woman cycling
through Hook was shot by an air rifle.
The victim suffered swelling and bruising to her arm after she was struck
by a pellet, which she believes came from a group of youths in a field.
South Yorkshire Police,
25 April 2007
The police have described an
incident in Thurcroft as a prime example of a point that officers
are trying to get over to parents about the consequences of the possession
of imitation guns. An armed response vehicle was called after a
report that a man was shooting children with an air rifle and that 4 guns
had been seen. On arrival the officers found that the incident
involved youngsters who had with them two BB guns
and a plastic assault rifle which they
had been firing indiscriminately. Some children had been hit with
pellets and had sustained reddening of the skin. The police
emphasised yet again that imitation firearms generally cannot be
distinguished from the real thing at a distance and that when such
incidents are reported an armed response is usually the only option.
Salford Advertiser,
25 April 2007 *
Barry Hayes shot his son in
the head, leg and chest with a modified air rifle
to settle a family argument. He had followed his son in
his car in Salford in November 2006 and shot him when he pulled
over and got out of the car. After the attack Hayes drove his victim
to hospital where he was arrested. His son had to undergo extensive
surgery to remove the pellets, one from his head, and two could not be
removed at all. One pellet had punctured his heart and his right
lung had collapsed. He is lucky to have survived, according to
police. Hayes pleaded guilty to attempted murder and with possession
of a section one firearm. He has been given an 18-year jail sentence
(Manchester Evening News, 8 September 2007).
East Anglian Daily Times,
25 April 2007
Police have announced that two
BB guns have been seized along with
cash and drugs as part of Operation Academy which has focused on drug
suspects who frequent Ipswich and have alleged links to gun crime
in London. Since January 62 alleged offenders have been arrested.
BBC,
25 April 2007
Police who stopped a car in
the Woodbury Down Estate in north London found the front seat
passenger to be suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. The
female driver was uninjured. The victim was taken to hospital where
he remained in a stable condition.
BBC,
25 April 2007
Members of staff at a pub in
West Bridgford, Nottingham, were tied up and threatened with a gun
by three men. One employee was made to open the safe at gunpoint and
the robbers made off on foot with a substantial amount of cash.
Manchester Evening News,
24 April 2007
A man who had already been
given a life sentence but had managed to escape whilst in custody, evaded
capture again after pulling a ball bearing gun
on police who had spotted him in Salford. Christopher
McDonagh was caught three days later following another chase during which
he brandished a machete. McDonagh has been given another
indeterminate sentence after admitting escaping from custody, possessing a
ball bearing gun with intent to resist arrest and possessing a machete and
a knife.
Coventry Evening Telegraph,
24 April 2007
An 8-year-old was hit in the
head by an air rifle pellet in his own
bedroom in Allesley where he was playing with his best friend.
They heard a pellet bounce of the window and seconds later another shot
ricocheted off the window frame and hit the boy. His mother saw a
man, aged about 20, handing out of the window of a flat in a nearby block.
The man and the gun had gone when the police investigated. But it
was four days before police collected the pellet which the mother had
later found on the bedroom floor.
BBC,
23 April 2007
A 75-year-old man became the
latest victim of an airgun attack when he was shot in the face with an
air rifle while visiting a hospital in
South Shields, Tyneside. A pellet hit him above the right eye
and he was kept in hospital overnight after receiving treatment. A
19-year-old and a 17-year-old have been arrested and an air rifle and
ammunition recovered by police. Police have arrested a third
teenager (The Journal, 25 April 2007).
ITV,
21 April 2007
A man was shot dead in a
restaurant in Harehills, Leeds. The incident is believed to
have involved four masked men.
BBC,
21 April 2007
Omar Malik has been sentenced
to seven years in prison for the possession of an arsenal of guns and
ammunition. He was arrested in May 2006 after a number of shootings.
The guns were found in his car when Greater Manchester police
executed a search warrant. A 12-gauge shotgun and a pump-action
rifle were found along with ammunition. Malik was charged with eight
firearms offences.
The News (Portsmouth),
19 April 2007
Armed police surrounded a
tower block in Havant after reports of two gunmen on the loose.
Two men were arrested, one inside the block of flats. Two
ball-bearing guns were recovered at the
scene. Although no-one was injured residents say there was a lot of
confusion.
North-West Evening Mail,
19 April 2007
Andrew John Sams appeared in
court after a drive-by shooting rampage with a
paintball gun in Dalton. He had been given the
weapon by his mother. Sams faces the charge of possessing a replica
firearm after admitting shooting it in public. He fired the weapon
from the window of a car at the door of a house which was covered in paint
and had a hole in the centre of it. Sams was arrested three days
later when a woman heard a loud bang and saw a car with the tip of a gun
pointing from the window. The defence counsel excused his behaviour
by saying that paintball guns "are designed to be fired at people after
all". The case was adjourned for pre-sentence reports.
Littlehampton Today,
19 April 2007
A man brandishing what
appeared to be a gun hijacked a car following an argument involving two
groups of men at a house in Littlehampton. The occupants of
the car, neither linked with the earlier incident, were ordered to get out
by the gunman and escaped uninjured. A 20-year-old has been arrested
but no gun has been recovered.
Richmond & Twickenham Times,
18 April 2007
A binge drinker, Paul Morgan,
shot himself in the head during a weekend of heavy drinking with friends
in Bromley in September 2006. He found the gun in a bush and
after waving it around put the gun to the back of his head and fired.
A 9mm bullet was removed by hospital staff who alerted police. The
gun was a converted Brocock airgun but
was not recovered by police. Morgan, who did not thing it was a real
gun or it was live ammunition, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and
having ammunition without a certificate. He was given an 11-month
suspended sentence.
East London Advertiser,
18 April 2007
A gunman wearing a 'Scream'
mask robbed a man at gunpoint under a railway arch in Bow.
The gunman, who pushed the weapon into the victim's stomach, had two
accomplices, one armed with a knife. Cash and a phone were stolen.
BBC,
18 April 2007
A cash delivery van driver was
threatened with a sawn-off shotgun who forced him to open the van and hand
over a large amount of cash before escaping on a motorbike driven by an
accomplice. The incident happened at a supermarket in Bedford.
Lancashire Evening Post,
17 April 2007
A
ball-bearing gun was used to smash a window at a home in
Leyland, near Preston.
Derby Evening Telegraph,
16 April 2007
A teenager had an
airgun pellet removed from his head after
he was shot in Derby. He was with a friend in a field at
Breadsall Hilltop when he was hit. Three youths were seen
running away from the scene but no-one had been found. The victim
was recovering in hospital.
Ashfield Today,
16 April 2007
A 16-year-old who was armed
with a loaded ball-bearing gun in
Sutton-in-Ashfield was hit by two baton rounds after he pointed his
gun at police officers after refusing to put it down in an incident in
January 2007 (see Incidents).
He had had an argument with another boy and threatened two of the boy's
neighbours who feared they would be shot. The teenager was sentenced
to 18 months detention and training.
BBC,
15 April 2007
A man was arrested following a
10-hour siege on a house in Exeter by police investigating reports
of a man brandishing a handgun. A man was arrested on suspicion of
firearms offences and a firearm was recovered.
Shropshire Star,
14 April 2007
Anthony Bevan was caught in
possession of an air weapon in a
public place, a field in Shrewsbury, in January 2007. He has
been given 100 hours of community service by magistrates.
BBC,
14 April 2007
A 14-year-old boy was shot in
the neck in a second drive-by shooting in Plaistow, east London.
He was standing outside a shop when shots were fired from a car with
blacked-out windows. The boy was treated in hospital and discharged.
Ealing Times,
13 April 2007
A 13-year-old boy threatened a
bus driver in Hampton Court with a realistic-looking
toy gun. He stepped out in front of
the vehicle and pointed the gun at the female driver. He was given a
reprimand for a public order offence.
Derby Evening Telegraph,
13 April 2007
Two unarmed police officers
tackled a man who was chasing people in a Derby street with what
appeared to be a machine gun. The officers saw two lads running with
a look of sheer terror on their faces and a short distance behind them the
armed man. The officers sprayed CS gas at the man after he turned
and pointed the weapon at the chest of one of them. The gun turned
out to be an exact replica of an Ingram Mac 10
sub-machine gun that fired blanks. A 20-year-old man has
been charged with two offences of possession of an imitation gun with
intent to cause fear of violence.
Daily Star,
13 April 2007
A house in
Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, was trashed during a party held by
a teenager who lived there. Up to £30,000 of damage was caused.
Pellets from a ball-bearing gun were
found on bedroom floors.
Widnes Weekly News,
12 April 2007
A taxi driver was driving in
Widnes with a woman passenger when his car was hit by a shower of
missiles from a seven-strong gang waiting in ambush. He fought to
keep control of the car. When he inspected the damage he found it
included circular holes in the windscreen and a hole in the wing the size
of an airgun slug. He is convinced that the youths were armed with
airguns.
This is Lancashire,
12 April 2007
A terrified retired man was
held up by a robber as he strolled through a park in Blackburn.
His attacker, who had been drinking with a gang of around six other
teenagers, threatened to blow off his head with a gun unless he emptied
his pockets. However one of the youth's friends eventually pulled
him away and told the victim that it was not a real gun. Police say
that they do not know whether the gun was real or
imitation but in any event the offence
was being taken very seriously.
Evening Courier (Halifax),
12 April 2007 *
Three men are on trial charged
with attempting to murder a man who was cornered by a group of men in
Brighouse, West Yorkshire, in March 2006 before one of them shot him
in the stomach with a shotgun. All three deny attempted murder,
causing grievous bodily harm with intent and carrying a shotgun with
intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Alan Morrison, who fired the
shotgun, was given an 18-year jail term for attempted murder. John
Hardy was convicted on the charges of attempted murder, carrying a firearm
with intent and doing an act tending or intended to pervert the course of
justice and was given a 14-year sentence. The third man was found
not guilty on all charges (Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 1 May
2007).
BBC,
12 April 2007
Yet another teenage boy has
been shot in the face with an air weapon.
The latest victim was cycling at the rear of a pub in Hebburn,
Tyneside, when a pellet hit him above the eye. His injuries were
reported to be serious.
Macclesfield Express,
11 April 2007
A fish farmer was found dead
at his home in Wincle with a single gunshot wound to his head.
Police are not treating his death as suspicious.
Daily Post,
11 April 2007
A man was shot in the back
when someone called his name from a passing vehicle as he was walking
along a street in Toxteth, Liverpool. His condition was
described as comfortable.
BBC,
11 April 2007
Three men have been arrested
on suspicion of conspiracy to murder after a gun was fired at a house in
Grangetown, Middlesbrough.
BBC,
10 April 2007
A 10-year-old boy has been hit
by what is believed were pellets from a BB gun.
He was with a group of youngsters in Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire,
when a car drove by and two men, both with BB guns, allegedly fired at
pedestrians.
BBC,
10 April 2007
Christopher Ashton shot a
former friend in a drive-by shooting from a moving car in Toxteth,
Liverpool, in May 2004. He pleaded guilty to wounding his victim and
was sentenced to more than ten years in prison. His victim underwent
surgery to remove a bullet and had to have his spleen removed.
Ashton is already serving a minimum of 32 years for the murder of another
man who was stabbed, shot and set alight in a gang attack in Merseyside
who was killed in October 2004 after Ashton was arrested and released on
bail.
BBC,
10 April 2007 *
A 19-year-old was hit in the
head in Plaistow, east London, during a drive-by shooting. Police are appealing for witnesses
and are treating the shooting as attempted murder. The victim has
been told he will never see again and he remains in a critical condition
in hospital (Newham Recorder, 16 May 2007). A photograph
showing the extent of the victim's injuries is to be handed out by police
in the hope it will encourage witnesses to come forward (BBC, 25
October 2007).
BBC,
10 April 2007
A man, believed to have been
armed with a gun, robbed a petrol station in Andoversford,
Gloucestershire. He escaped with around £250.
This is Wiltshire,
9 April 2007
Two young girls burst into a
Swindon shop and stole all the takings. According to the
owner the girls were aged around 15. One of the girls pointed a
small handgun at him. One girl has been arrested (This is
Wiltshire, 12 April 2007).
ic South London,
9 April 2007
A gun a pristine First
World War pistol, was uncovered during a series of dawn raids across
Southwark. A second handgun was found by police, and two
suspects were arrested for alleged firearms offences. Another pistol
and ammunition were found at a second address.
Sunday Sun,
8 April 2007
Police are investigating
claims that an air rifle was pointed
at youths in King Moor Nature Reserve, Carlisle. The incident
followed a row between two groups of youths. Those involved in
pointing the gun were described as aged 15-16.
The News (Portsmouth),
7 April 2007
In the latest in a series of
armed robberies at Portsmouth fast-food outlets (see
March 2007 Incidents)
a masked gunman threatened a teenage employee as he demanded thousands of
pounds. The gunman fled before police, alerted by an automatic alarm,
arrived at the scene.
Guardian,
7 April 2007 *
A pregnant woman has become
the latest victim of a fatal shooting in south London. She was shot
at point blank range on her doorstep in Battersea, and may have
been killed over a parking dispute, according to police. She was
pronounced dead at the scene. A man has been found guilty murder and
having a firearm with intent to endanger life and jailed for a minimum of
30 years (see March 2008
Incidents).
Cambridge Evening News,
7 April 2007
Three teenagers, Matthew
Cannon, Charles Pretlove and Carl Hooper, attacked a man with an
air rifle and a knife during a burglary
in Saffron Waldon in August 2006. They admitted aggravated
burglary and were sentenced to two years in a young offenders'
institution. The judge said that the crime was driven by abuse of
cannabis in conjunction with alcohol.
The Press (York),
6 April 2007
A mother was furious after her
two young daughters, aged 12 and 10, were sold a realistic-looking
imitation handgun at a shop in York.
Pendle Today,
6 April 2007
Police officers carried out
extra patrols in the Alkincoats Park area of Colne after a pellet
was fired from a ball bearing gun at a
parked car causing £100 worth of damage. Youngsters caught with the
guns will be served with fixed penalty notices.
Pendle Today,
6 April 2007
Terence Bray was given an
eight-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 12 months
supervision, after he admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause
fear of violence. His neighbour in Nelson had gone to speak
to him about noise and verbal abuse in July 2006 and Bray had got irate.
He pulled out what the neighbour believed to be a black handgun and fired
two shots in the air. Police found Bray drunk and with an
air pistol, operated by a gas canister,
on his lap.
Metro,
5 April 2007
A nightclub in Mayfair,
central London, was cleared and searched by police after an angry reveller
had fired an airgun at a photographer.
It was reported that the victim was hit in the back of the head.
Manchester Evening News,
5 April 2007
Four people have been charged
in a crackdown on gun crime. Two were accused of possessing an
imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, one
was charged with possessing a prohibited weapon and one with possessing a
firearm without a certificate. A police spokesman said it was a good
result for Salford.
ic theWharf,
5 April 2007
A baby was shot in the face
with a ball-bearing gun which was
fired through the letterbox of his home in Poplar, east London.
He was hit just below his left eye but had little injury other than
passing redness, according to police. He was treated at the scene by
ambulance staff. A 14-year-old has been arrested.
Cheshunt & Waltham Mercury,
5 April 2007
Terrance Bishop has been
jailed for eight and a half years for raping a Cheshunt woman in
her own home at gunpoint in June 2006 and beating her up when she
threatened to go to the police. He was high on drink and drugs at
the time of the rape and had come up behind his victim and pressed a gun
to her head.
BBC,
5 April 2007 *
A man who held up a betting
shop in Horwich, Greater Manchester, was caught on CCTV cameras,
police have revealed. The man posed as a customer before threatening
workers with a gun. He left the shop with a substantial amount of
cash. A man has been jailed for 5 years after admitting robbery and
possession of an imitation firearm, an
air pistol (see May 2007
Incidents).
BBC,
5 April 2007
Nottinghamshire Police seized
an air rifle and two vehicles in a
crackdown on crime in the Kimberley and Eastwood areas of Nottingham.
In the News,
4 April 2007
Dwayne Reid was found guilty
of grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a firearm with intent
to endanger life and possession of a firearm while prohibited to do so.
He was sentenced to a minimum of five years and 315 days in prison.
The sentence followed an incident in Peckham, south London, in
April 2006 (see Incidents)
when police chased two occupants of a car which crashed. One of the
officers was shot, but Reid was arrested by two other officers. All
three police officers were awarded High Commendations, the Metropolitan
Police's highest honour.
East Anglian Daily Times,
3 April 2007
Philip Catterick held a gun at
the heads of three young people in the centre of Lowestoft in
August 2006. He approached a group of youngsters asking about drugs
but they moved away from him, concerned about his behaviour. He
produced a black handgun and held it at the heads of two boys and a girl.
Catterick was arrested shortly afterwards and a handgun, a magazine and
BB pellets seized. He admitted
possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possessing
a firearm while prohibited. He was sentenced to a 10-month detention
order.
Daily Mail,
3 April 2007
A masked raider, aged 16, held
a gun inches from the chest of a shopkeeper in Stockport during a
raid in February 2007. The youth demanded the contents of the till
but fled empty handed. He was arrested within hours. Police
recovered the weapon which turned out to be a
ball-bearing gun, capable of causing serious injury and
indistinguishable by sight from an automatic firearm. He has been
given a rehabilitation order, a sentence that has been severely criticised
by the victim.
The Argus (Brighton),
3 April 2007
Brighton and Hove Police had
four calls about firearms in a period of three days. Unarmed
officers were sent to deal with three teenage boys "playing" with a
ball-bearing gun in Brighton.
A group of boys, probably the same ones, were reported later in
Hollingdean, having been seen with a gun. They were stopped and
police recovered a BB gun. Unarmed police also went to an incident
in which a man was reported to be firing at birds in Portslade.
Armed police were dispatched to deal with a man firing an
air rifle in public on waste land in
Brighton but he had gone when they arrived.
The Press (York),
2 April 2007
A farmer from Hovingham
has denied charges of criminal damage and affray and told a jury why he
considered it "reasonable" to fire shotgun pellets twice into a stranger's
pick up truck and keep him and his seven-year-old child in a field for
more than 20 minutes. The shots hit the windscreen and a front
headlight. He told the court that thieves had broken into his
outbuildings ten times between 2004 and 2006 and he believed the man and
his son were thieves and that shooting at them was "a perfectly reasonable
thing to do". The man targeted said he was there to dismantle a
horse box container he had bought from its owner. The trial
continues.
Bolton News,
2 April 2007
Youngsters opened fire with an
airgun on a passing train as it passed
close to Heaton Cemetery in Bolton in March. This and a
number of other incidents in the area have prompted police to increase
patrols on railway lines.
BBC,
2 April 2007
More than 200 homes were being
searched by police as part of an operation to tackle gun crime in
Manchester. Twelve people have been arrested and one firearm
recovered. Sixteen "key addresses" in Moss Side,
Fallowfield and Hulme were raided.
This is Lancashire,
1 April 2007
Three schoolgirls were shot by
two 13-year-old boys who opened fire on them with a
ball-bearing gun in Blackburn.
The boys, who are fellow pupils, were suspended for two days. One of
the victims was hit just below the eye and is fortunate not to have been
blinded. Police are investigating.
BBC,
1 April 2007
A man was shot while sitting
in his car at a set of traffic lights in Burnage, Greater
Manchester. The victim was able to make his own way to hospital.
SCOTLAND
BBC,
28 April 2007
Police are investigating the
possibility that airgun pellets have
been fired at taxis and buses in Aberdeen. They received a
number of complaints about vehicles being struck and damaged by an object,
described as being similar to an airgun pellet. None of the drivers
was injured.
BBC,
26 April 2007
Armed police seized three guns
and quantities of what are believed to be controlled drugs from four house
in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire. One man was arrested for
alleged drugs and firearms offences. Reports are being sent to the
Procurator Fiscal about four men and two women and another male and two
female were arrested for other offences.
Evening Times,
18 April 2007 *
Peter Sheridan has admitted
presenting a firearm or imitation firearm at a worker at a takeaway in
Glasgow in June 2006. He demanded a free kebab and after he left
was seen pointing the gun, a starting pistol,
at the shop and firing one shot. He was arrested ten days later.
Sheridan has been jailed for four years (Evening Times, 16 May
2007).
Daily Record,
17 April 2007 *
Following a fire at a house in
Lochgilphead, Argyllshire, firefighters found a .38 Smith & Wesson
revolver. The homeowner, Geoffrey Hutton, admitted possessing the
gun and faces a five year jail sentence. He had swapped its serial
number with a legal, deactivated version. Hutton was given 200 hours
of community service. More than 60 legal firearms had been found
when police searched his property (Daily Record, 15 May 2007).
Evening News (Edinburgh),
13 April 2007
A single gunshot from a
shotgun was fired from a car at a house in Muirhouse Green.
The family had moved out of the property a few weeks before the shooting
because of fears about the environment. It is thought that a
19-year-old member of the family may have been the target.
BBC,
10 April 2007
A man crashed his car into a
passing female motorist after he was shot as he drove along a street in
Glasgow. The man was being treated in hospital where his
condition was described as serious but stable. The woman motorist
was also injured. A man has been jailed for eight years for the
shooting (see February 2008
Incidents).
Daily Record,
5 April 2007 *
Garry McGowan, 17, shot a
16-year-old boy with an air rifle in
Greenock in January 2007. He also admitted terrifying three
shop assistants with an air pistol.
He was subject to an anti-social behaviour order at the time. He
admitted the offences. He has been locked up for 40 months (Evening
Times, 10 May 2007).
Sunday Mail,
1 April 2007
A pupil has been shot in the
face with an airgun at a school in
Easterhouse, Glasgow. The victim needed hospital treatment.
A 14-year-old has been charged with a firearms offence and will be
referred to the children's panel.
WALES
News Wales,
24 April 2007
Seven people were arrested after
police raids in the Cardiff Bay area conducted under Operation
Hurricane, an operation targeting gun crime. Class A drugs, cannabis
and cash were seized but no firearms were recovered.
BBC,
18 April 2007
A man was arrested in
connection with an airgun incident following
unconfirmed reports that a man had been shot, but not seriously injured,
in Bangor, Gwynedd.
BBC,
18 April 2007
In a second apparently
unlinked incident in Bangor a woman suffered facial and arm injuries after being shot
at a post office,
with what is thought to have been an airgun.
The victim's injuries were not life threatening but she needed hospital
treatment. The woman was working in the post office and was shot
four times in the face and neck by two armed robbers (Daily Post,
18 April 2007). Two men have been arrested (BBC, 24 April 2007).
BBC,
4 April 2007
Gun enthusiast Paul Williams
from Trevor, Denbighshire, was jailed for four-and-a-half-years
after admitting dealing in prohibited firearms and ammunition. He
supplied a selection of pistols and a sub-machine gun converter kit.
The court heard that Williams was a collector and enthusiast with an
interest in firearms since he age of nine. He had supplied a tight
circle of three people. Williams asked for 18 other similar offences
to be taken into consideration. One of the transactions had taken
place at Wrexham Gun Club. The judge said that Williams must have
known of the changes in the law in the wake of the Dunblane massacre but
had disregarded them.
South Wales Echo,
3 April 2007
A police officer feared for
his life when a man he was chasing pointed a sawn-off gun at him.
Luke Morgan pointed the gun as the officer approached him on an estate in
Merthyr Tydfil. Morgan was punched and sprayed with CS gas
but broke free and was driven away. He was arrested a few days
later. The incident occurred after a one-armed bandit was stolen
from a pub. Morgan, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to a total of
four years for using a firearm with intent to resist arrest, possessing a
firearm when prohibited and theft.
INCIDENTS INVOLVING ANIMALS
Sunderland Echo,
30 April 2007
A six-year-old girl from
Silksworth discovered her pet cat lying in pain and in a pool of blood
in her play house. The cat had been shot with an
air rifle. Vets had to amputate the
pet's leg as a pellet had shattered the bone in one of its front paws.
Another pellet was found in its back. The family had reported
hearing air rifles going off on an earlier occasion but in the absence of
witnesses to the cat's shooting there is nothing the police can do.
A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said that if anyone does see such an incident
they should call the RSPCA and the police.
Northern Echo,
27 April 2007
A horse needed treatment by a
vet after being shot by an airgun in a
field near Chester-le-Street, County Durham. Up to a dozen
teenagers are thought to have been in a field firing air rifles to
frighten a group of horses when one of then was hit.
Daily Echo (Dorset),
25 April 2007
Vets claim that a family's cat
only has a 50:50 chance of surviving operations after the pet was shot
with an airgun in Poole.
She has already had to have a kidney removed. The previous week the
paper had reported how a pet cat from Wimborne had an eye removed
after being shot with what was believed to have been an
airgun.
BBC,
20 April 2007
At least two cats have been
shot and badly injured by an air rifle
sniper in east Kent. Several incidents are being looked into amid
reports that someone has been seen carrying an air rifle in public.
One cat was shot in the let in Hythe, and a few days later a cat
was shot in the throat in Dover. Kent police have warned that
the person responsible could face jail.
Ealing Times,
19 April 2007
Police are investigating the
death of a swan which was killed by an air rifle
in a park in Mitcham, south London. It died from a single
shot to the head. Two coots also died in the incident. The
dead swan was part of a pair who were in the process of making their nest
together.
Evening News (Edinburgh),
7 April 2007
A family's pet cat died a slow
and agonising death after an airgun
pellet became lodged in her liver, and despite a desperate fight by vets
to save her life she died from infection two days after she was shot near
her home in Livingston Village, West Lothian. The vet who
treated the cat said that the injury was caused by a deliberate act with a
powerful airgun.
Evening Leader,
3 April 2007
A cat has had her eye
shot out in an airgun attack in
Cain Park, Wrexham. The cat appeared at the back door with blood
on her face. The vet found an air rifle pellet behind her eye.
