2008
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
BBC,
31 December 2008
A 14-year-old boy was shot in
the chest in Greenford, west London. He was taken to hospital
by two males and later transferred to another hospital where his condition
is said to be stable.
This is Exeter,
30 December 2008
A man has appeared in court
accused of threatening his wife with a rifle at their home in Exmouth,
Devon. He was charged with having a firearm, a bolt-action 9mm
rifle, and ammunition without a certificate and also with having a firearm
and ammunition with intent to cause his wife to believe unlawful violence
would be used against her.
Shields Gazette,
30 December 2008
A 15-year-old boy has been
arrested on suspicion of firing an air weapon
at car park signs out of the window of a car in South Shields,
Tyneside. He was charged with having an air weapon in a public
place.
Hemel Today,
30 December 2008
A woman was shot in the
stomach with an airgun on her doorstep
in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The attacker was a young
man. She had been woken by the sound of banging on the window of her
house. The victim had to spend hours in hospital after the attack.
BBC,
30 December 2008
A man holding what appeared to
be a gun in a plastic bag demanded cash at a bookmakers in Headington,
Oxford. Police believe a three figure sum was stolen.
BBC,
30 December 2008
A man was being treated in
hospital after being shot in the chest in a street in Oldham,
Greater Manchester. His injuries are not thought to be life
threatening.
Worcester News,
29 December 2008
Kenneth Lundy of Warndon,
Worcester, has pleaded guilty to possession of a
shotgun when prohibited by a previous four-year jail sentence
and possession of 15 shotgun cartridges when prohibited. The weapon
and ammunition were seized by police in September 2008. A
psychiatric report is being prepared while Lundy is held in prison on
remand.
Coventry Telegraph,
26 December 2008
Rikki Doakes was trapped in a
bank during an armed raid in Blackpool in October 2008 (see
Incidents) when he
had stolen over £9000 in cash whilst armed with a
ball bearing gun. He has pleaded
guilty to robbery and possession an imitation firearm and been jailed for
six years and four months.
BBC,
25 December 2008 *
A man was shot dead in a
street in Shepherd's Bush, west London, just after he parked his
car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Two boys, aged 16
and 17, and two men are on trial and have all denied murder, but one of
the men, Khalid Elsheikh, has already admitted possessing a gun, silencer
and ammunition in a separate incident (Worthing Herald, 2 September
2009). The 16-year-old was found guilty of murder but the two men
and the 17-year-old were cleared of murder (see
October 2009 Incidents).
BBC,
25 December 2008
A 16-year-old boy is
recovering in hospital after he was shot in the buttock in Bury,
Greater Manchester. A man shouted to the victim before firing at
him. The boy's injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
BBC,
24 December 2008
A 14-year-old boy has been
arrested after a paramedic and ambulance crew were shot at with
plastic pellets while they were treating
a patient in Portsmouth. None of the men were injured.
Kent Online,
23 December 2008
Jane Pentney of Tonbridge,
Kent, tried to kill her teenage son by firing an
airgun at his head in January 2008. His injuries were
described as "not so great". She was "extremely intoxicated" when
she decided to kill her two sons and then herself. She has been
jailed indefinitely for public protection and will have to serve a minimum
of three years.
BBC,
23 December 2008
A store in Godmanchester,
Cambridgeshire, was robbed by a man armed with a gun. Police are
linking it to a robbery at a bookmakers in the same town three nights
earlier.
BBC,
23 December 2008
A 17-year-old girl was shot in
the leg with an airgun as she walked
along a footpath near a play area in Bedford. The victim will
need surgery on her lower leg to remove the pellet (Luton Today, 24
December 2008).
This is Litchfield,
22 December 2008
Jane Easton threatened to kill
her husband's mistress, who was her best friend, in front of the woman's former
partner the bus station at Rugeley, Staffordshire. She lifted
up her clothing to show a realistic-looking gun in her waistband and said
"It's loaded, I'm going to kill her. The weapon was a
BB gun made to resemble a Glock pistol
and had been bought as a toy for the children. Easton admitted a
charge of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of
violence. She was given a three year community order.
Redditch Advertiser,
22 December 2008
The police sealed off several
roads in Redditch, Worcestershire, as they launched a hunt for a man seen
with a gun in Crabbs Cross. It is known that at least one
shot was fired but there were no reports of any injuries. A man has
appeared in court charged with possessing a firearm with intent to
endanger life and possessing a firearm when prohibited (Redditch
Advertiser, 30 December
2008).
Oxford Mail,
22 December 2008
A man robbed a woman of her
car in a pub car park in Stanton St John, Oxfordshire. He
claimed he had a gun. He is believed to the same man wanted for
raids on buses, a bookmakers, a shopper and a taxi driver in the past ten
days. Two men, one aged 18, have now been arrested over this and
other armed robberies in Oxfordshire (BBC, 23 December 2008).
Local Guardian,
22 December 2008 *
Three men have been charged
after a gun and stun gun were found in a car pulled over in Southampton.
They were charged with possession of a firearm with intent to commit an
indictable offence and also possession of a handgun. One of them has
been charged with possession of ammunition. Two men have been jailed
after admitting or being found guilty of a number of offences (see
October 2009 Incidents).
Huddersfield Daily
Examiner,
22 December 2008 *
A gunman is being hunted after
two people were shot in Huddersfield. A 19-year-old man was
shot in the lower leg and a woman received a gunshot wound to her foot.
Both victims have been discharged from hospital (Huddersfield Daily
Examiner, 23 December 2008). A man has admitted two offences of
unlawful wounding and possessing a reactivated pistol and ammunition with
intent to cause fear of violence (see
November 2009 Incidents).
BBC,
22 December 2008
Two masked raiders threatened
a woman employee with a weapon, thought to be a handgun, at a betting shop
in Caversham, Berkshire. The woman managed to escape and the
offenders left empty-handed.
BBC,
22 December 2008
An 18-year-old was allegedly
found in possession of a stun gun and cocaine and has been charged by the
police in Plymouth. Police had been called to an incident at
a nightclub.
The People,
21 December 2008
A service station shop owner
in Ancaster, Lincolnshire, carrying an air
rifle chased off masked ram-raiders who tried to snatch a cash
machine.
BBC,
21 December 2008
A man has been shot in the leg
in an attack in Pendleton, Salford. He remains in a stable
condition in hospital. His injuries are not believed to be
life-threatening. A man has been bailed after being arrested in
connection with the shooting (BBC, 8 January 2009).
BBC,
21 December 2008
A man pointed a handgun at a
shop assistant's face as he tried to rob a store in Minehead,
Somerset. He repeatedly demanded money but left the store empty
handed when the shopkeeper was unable to open the till.
The Star,
20 December 2008
Armed police were called to
Hexthorpe, South Yorkshire, after a woman was robbed at gunpoint by a
hooded raider whilst she was in her car. The robber opened the
driver's door whilst she was talking on her mobile phone. The man
produced what may have been a handgun and demanded money. The woman
handed over some cash.
Press Association,
20 December 2008
A man has been shot dead in
Camberwell, south London. He may have been shot in a flat and
then ran into the street where he collapsed. A 20-year-old has been
charged with murder (BBC, 9 January 2009).
East Anglian Daily Times,
20 December 2008
Taroe Westgate pointed a
loaded air rifle at a bouncer at a
nightclub in Stowmarket, Suffolk, in June 2008 (see
Incidents). He
was fuelled with alcohol at the time and was in a rage after meeting up
with his ex-girlfriend who worked at the club. He took the high
velocity air rifle from his car after being restrained by the bouncer.
He has been jailed for three years.
Cambridge News,
20 December 2008
A robber terrified two women
by threatening them with a handgun as he stole cash from a betting shop in
Huntingdon.
BBC,
20 December 2008
A shot was fired during a
robbery by four men at a bookmakers in Openshaw, Greater
Manchester. The shot was fired from a silver handgun. No one
was injured but a cashier and customers were left extremely shaken.
The men escaped with money.
BBC,
20 December 2008
A couple have been robbed at
gunpoint by three masked men in their home in Ashington near
Wimborne in Dorset. The husband as tied up and assaulted during the
raid. His wife had a handgun pushed into her face, causing bruising.
No shots were fired. £1000 was stolen.
Western Morning News,
19 December 2008
Three people have been
arrested outside a supermarket in Newton Abbot, Devon, after a
search of their car revealed two air rifles,
one of which with its barrel shortened. Two boys, aged 16 and 17,
and a teenaged woman were arrested.
This is Staffordshire,
19 December 2008
Landlord Paul Cooper has been
jailed for 10 years for shooting two of the regulars at the pub he ran in
Congleton, Cheshire, in December 2007 (see
Incidents). He was convicted of two
counts of wounding with intent and had pleaded guilty to possessing a
firearm with intent to cause a person to believe that unlawful violence
would be used against them. After he had shot the customers he had
attempted to take his own life by placing his
double-barrel shotgun in his mouth.
Pontefract & Castleford
Express,
19 December 2008
A mother is calling for
BB guns to be banned after her
14-year-old daughter was shot in the eye with an imitation handgun.
A boy fired a ball bearing at her as she waited for a friend in
Pontefract, West Yorkshire. The girl collapsed in pain and was
left temporarily blind in her right eye. A 14-year-old boy was
arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault in connection with the
shooting which took place in November 2008.
Bolton News,
19 December 2008
A 19-year-old who is accused
of firing a warning shot from a gun at a witness's front door has been
charged with possessing a German Cuno Melcher ME .38 converted blank
revolver, which is a prohibited weapon, possessing a firearm without a
certificate, having a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence
and witness intimidation. He was remanded in custody by magistrates
in Bolton.
BBC,
19 December 2008
Armed men, one of whom had a
handgun, entered a house at North Magdalene, near Consett in County
Durham and made a woman hand over hundreds of pounds. The woman was
alone in the house with her two-year-old daughter.
BBC,
19 December 2008
A gang of robbers fired a
long-barrelled gun towards the ceiling during a raid at a post office in
Stotfold, Bedfordshire. Customers were told to get on the
floor as the gang ordered staff to hand over cash. A substantial sum
was taken.
BBC,
19 December 2008
Four
shotguns have been stolen from a house near Botus Fleming,
Cornwall. The weapons were stored in a secure cabinet but could have
been taken anytime in between April and December when the crime was
discovered.
BBC,
19 December 2008
Sussex Police have received
two reports of an airship advertising a warehouse in Ditchling, East
Sussex, being shot at and have recovered airgun
pellets. The owner said it cost £500 to repair and re-inflate it on
each occasion. There have been complaints that the blimp was
spoiling people's views.
BBC,
19 December 2008 *
Two men, one of them a
teenager, have been charged with using a firearm to resist arrest after
shots were fired at police officers from the rear window of a car.
The officers were attempting to stop an allegedly stolen car in
Ladbroke Grove, west London. A second teenager was arrested in
connection with the incident but released on bail. A man has been
jailed for eight years after admitting two robberies and using a firearm
to resist arrest (see August
2009 Incidents).
This is Surrey Today,
18 December 2008
Two men have appeared in court
accused of carrying a Samurai sword and an
imitation firearm in a street in Horley, Surrey, in July
2008. They were remanded on bail.
This is Plymouth,
18 December 2008
A teenager was flown to
hospital after he was apparently shot in the eye with an
air rifle in Looe, Cornwall.
Police said that initial reports suggested that his injury was "an
accident as teenagers played in woodlands in the town". Police
and prosecutors are considering criminal charges against three teenagers
for firearms offences (Evening Herald (Plymouth), 20 December
2008).
This is Derbyshire,
18 December 2008
A woman has told how she
narrowly avoided being hit in the head after an
airgun pellet was fired through a bus window. The bus was
travelling down a street in Chaddesden, Derby, when the shot was
fired. Glass smashed and an airgun pellet was found on the floor of
the bus.
Northampton Chronicle &
Echo,
18 December 2008
Glyn Medcraft, Adrian McGrail
and Joshua Jones have each received long sentences for a series of armed
shop robberies in Northamptonshire. They were caught after another
member of the gang, Lee Cutter, told police of their involvement.
The gang first robbed a shop in West Haddon in November 2006 after
threatening staff with a crow bar, and the following month, after an
aborted raid in Byfield, they attacked a shop in Long Buckby armed
with a metal bar and a BB gun (see
2006 Incidents).
The gun was fired at a teenager causing a minor injury. Medcraft
admitted conspiracy to commit four robberies, possessing an imitation
firearm and assault and was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum
of six years. Jones admitted involvement in three robberies and
attempted robbery and was jailed for seven years. McGrail acted as
the getaway driver and was also jailed for seven years.
The Comet,
18 December 2008
Mandell Mullings was convicted
of raping a woman in February 2008 after he turned up at her home in
Stevenage, Hertfordshire, armed with an
imitation gun. He must serve five years less time on
remand before he can apply for parole and will be on licence indefinitely.
BBC,
18 December 2008
Alan Kennedy has admitted
robbing Broxtowe Borough Council offices in Eastwood,
Nottinghamshire, and two betting shops in Heanor, Nottinghamshire
(see September 2008 Incidents),
and Skegness, Lincolnshire (see
July 2008 Incidents),
between June and August 2008 and has been jailed for nine years. He
was armed with an imitation handgun.
Another man, Steven Guest, who admitted driving a car for Kennedy in one
of the robberies was jailed for four years.
BBC,
18 December 2008
An 18-year-old has been
seriously injured in a shooting in Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury, in West
Yorkshire. He was taken to hospital where his condition was
described as serious but stable. Four males, all aged under 20, have
been arrested (BBC, 19 December 2008),
Westmorland Gazette,
17 December 2008
Police are trying to trace the
occupants of a car after an air rifle
was fired from its window as it was driven around Ingleton, North
Yorkshire. An airgun pellet was fired at a house window.
Hornsey & Crouch End
Journal,
17 December 2008
A Parks Constabulary in the
London Borough of Haringey has seized a number of weapons in the
last three months including an imitation
Kalashnikov and ball-bearing guns.
The information has been revealed as plans to axe the force were given the
final go ahead.
BBC,
17 December 2008
Marcus Alder, a former
policeman of Offord Darcy in Cambridgeshire, has been jailed for 14
years for a string of offences including fraud and firearms charges.
He was convicted in October of perverting the course of justice, perjury,
fraud and other offences. He was said to be "so motivated by greed
that he used threats of violence, guns, swords and other weapons to
intimidate and blackmail his victims".
BBC,
17 December 2008
Darren Johnson has been jailed
for eight years after he was found guilty of possession of a firearm with
intent to endanger life. He had threatened staff at a nightclub in
Oxford in May 2008 after he was told to leave. He was
arrested close to the scene.
Telegraph & Argus,
16 December 2008
Police seized replica weapons
and drugs during dawn raids on two adjoining properties in Buttershaw,
Bradford, and a third property in the area. One person linked to the
addresses will need to be questioned in relation to the seizure of replica
firearms, an air weapon and a
replica handgun, and other offensive
weapons, according to the police.
Northampton Chronicle &
Echo,
16 December 2008
John Hlustik fired a
double-barrelled shotgun at his own
burglar alarm to silence the device at his home in Wootton,
Northamptonshire, in August 2008. Police recovered the shotgun and
two spent and two live cartridges, all of which were legally owned.
Hlustik admitted having a firearm in public and was given a year's
conditional discharge and ordered to pay prosecution costs.
Harrow Times,
16 December 2008 *
A man has been charged with a
string of robberies and possession of both firearms and
imitation firearms in connection with a
series of alleged raids, including one this month at a jewellery shop in
Stanmore, north London. Police have accused him of holding up
a post office in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, in October 2008 (see
Incidents) and two
armed robberies in north Watford. A man has pleaded guilty to
two robberies and having an imitation firearm (see
August 2009 Incidents).
BBC,
16 December 2008
Michael Rungen has been found
guilty of killing a man outside a takeaway in Leeds in April 2007
(see Incidents).
He will serve a minimum of 30 years. Rungen had acted as the driver
in a group of three men who had shot and stabbed the victim in a targeted
assassination.
BBC,
16 December 2008
Mohammed Rafiq, who shot a man
16 times in Birmingham in April 2003 (see
Incidents) in an "execution style" murder,
has been jailed for life and will serve a minimum term of 22 years.
He had pleaded not guilty to murder and firearms offences.
BBC,
16 December 2008 *
Sean Mercer has been convicted
of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones who was shot in a pub car park in
Croxteth, Liverpool, in August 2007 (see
Incidents) as he walked home from
football practice. Mercer, who was aged 16 at the time of the murder
and a member of the Croxteth Crew gang, had armed himself with a Smith and
Wesson .455 revolver and was attempting to fire shots at friends of a
Strand Gang member when Rhys was hit. Fellow gang members James
Yates, Nathan Quinn, Gary Kays, Melvin Coy and a 16-year-old boy who
cannot be named for legal reasons were convicted of assisting an offender
after they helped Mercer evade the police for months. Dean Kelly,
17, was convicted of four related charges. Quinn, who is 18, is
already serving five years for gun-related offences. Mercer has been
sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison (Guardian, 16 December
2008). Yates was sentenced to seven years, Kelly to four years, and
Quinn to two years. The 16-year-old was given a supervision order (BBC,
29 January 2009). Yates, who supplied the murder weapon has had his
sentence increased to 12 years after it was decided that the original
sentence was "unduly lenient" (BBC, 28 October 2009).
Welwyn & Hatfield Times,
15 December 2008
A woman was held up at
gunpoint after a robber burst into her home in Brookmans Park,
Hertfordshire. He stole jewellery and cash from the property.
Telegraph & Argus,
15 December 2008
A man was punched in the face
by a gang of five armed raiders who forced their way into his home in
Barkerend, Bradford. Two of the men were armed with a knife and
what is believed to have been an imitation
firearm. The gang escaped with a DVD player, a mobile
phone, a digital camera and a small amount of cash.
The Citizen
(Lancaster & Morecambe),
15 December 2008
Jonathon Dagger was in
possession of a .22 air rifle which he
was seen pointing a gun into the River Lune from a bridge in Lancaster.
He was later seen trying to hide the gun in his jacket and was detained.
A month earlier he had been involved in causing damage at a Morecambe
church. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage and possessing a
firearm in a public place. He was given an eight month prison
sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 120 hours unpaid
work.
BBC,
15 December 2008
Two men armed with a handgun
escaped with a "substantial amount of money" after a raid at a post office
in Christchurch, Cambridgeshire. One of the men threatened a
female member of staff with the gun.
BBC,
15 December 2008
A 15-year-old boy was shot as
he walked along a disused railway line in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.
He was treated in hospital for back and arm injuries but has since been
discharged.
Crawley Observer,
14 December 2008
Two men robbed a service
station at gunpoint in Thame, Oxfordshire. They demanded the
cashiers opened the tills and took some money.
Asian Image,
14 December 2008
A taxi driver feared for his
life when a double-barrel shotgun was pointed at him during an incident on
a remote stretch of road between Stanbury and Colne, West
Yorkshire. His passenger said he had no money but went into a house
and re-emerged with the gun which he pointed at the driver and threatened
to kill him. The driver escaped by driving off, leaving the door
hanging open.
Sunderland Echo,
13 December 2008
An
air weapon has been used to shoot at bulbs in lampposts in
parks in Seaham, County Durham, leaving the council facing a repair
bill of £5,750.
BBC,
13 December 2008
Masked men who broke into a
house in Middleton, Greater Manchester, held a gun to a man's head
and hitting him on the head with a machete. The victim was stabbed
in the back. The gang of three were disturbed by the sound of police
sirens and ran off.
BBC,
13 December 2008
A man was arrested at
Victoria station in London in connection with an armed robbery in
Broadstairs, Kent. There had been reports a man tried to rob an
off-licence with a handgun. Nothing was taken in the incident.
The Gazette,
12 December 2008
Lee Broadbent and Calum Holmes
have been jailed following an attack on a man in Blackpool in which
they stripped their victim naked before shooting him with a stun gun.
The men had apparently argued over a drug debt. Both men had pleaded
guilty to actual bodily harm and false imprisonment. Broadbent
admitted illegally possessing a stun gun and was sentenced to three years
with an additional 18 months for possession of an offensive weapon to run
concurrently. Holmes was also sentenced to three years.
BBC,
12 December 2008
A bank worker was dragged by
her hair by two men with shotguns who
threatened staff at a bank in Walkden, Salford. The men
escaped with what police say was a "large" amount of money.
BBC,
12 December 2008
The jury at the inquest into
the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead by armed police at
Stockwell underground station, south London, in July 2005 (see
Incidents), has
returned an open verdict.
BBC,
12 December 2008 *
A man was taken to hospital
with stomach injuries after being shot in the Foleshill area of
Coventry. The victim is in a stable condition. The police
believe the attack, believed to have involved a
sawn-off shotgun, was pre-planned. One year later the
victim has to use a walking stick (BBC, 10 December 2009).
Warrington Guardian,
11 December 2008
Kyle Barnes was caught with a
loaded pistol after a police chase in Risley, Warrington. The
gun was found to be a close replica of a police Glock 17 pistol which had
a metal object lodged inside to stop it from firing. There were
three rounds of blank-firing ammunition. He said he had been asked
to dispose of it by a person who had made threats to members of his
family. Barnes had been given a reprimand in 2001 for possessing an
air weapon and had spent time in a
Young Offenders Institution. He pleaded guilty to possessing an
imitation firearm and was handed a
six-month suspended prison sentence and a 12-month supervision order.
BBC,
11 December 2008 *
A security guard was shot in
the leg by robbers as he delivered to a cash machine in Blackburn,
Lancashire. The victim is seriously ill in hospital but his
condition is not thought to be life threatening. A man has been
arrested and is being questioned by the police (BBC, 12 December
2008). A £25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to
the conviction of the raiders (BBC, 28 May 2009). Seven
people have been charged with the robbery, and four have also been charged
in connection with another robbery in Thornton Cleveleys,
Lancashire, which took place in August 2008 (BBC, 7 November 2009).
A number of men have been convicted (see
April 2010 Incidents).
BBC,
11 December 2008
Two bus drivers in Oxfordshire
have been held up at gunpoint on the same night. A man who got on a
bus in Wheatley threatened the driver with a gun before fleeing
with his takings. In the second attack a driver in Headington
was hit over the head and his money taken.
Sky News,
10 December 2008
A package delivered to a woman
at her home in Winfrith, Dorset, contained a
realistic-looking Heckler and Koch machine gun
which should have been sent by the gun supply company to Dorset
Police HQ. The gun is used for training purposes. Had it been
a real firearm it would have been transported by hand. Nevertheless
the police are seeking assurances from the unnamed supplier that such a
mistake could never happen again.
BBC,
10 December 2008
A man is in a stable condition
in hospital after being shot in the leg in Levenshulme, Manchester.
The injury is not believed to be life-threatening.
BBC,
10 December 2008
Three alleged members of an
armed gang are on trial accused of conspiring to kidnap and blackmail a
man in Finchley, north London, in December 2007. They deny
the charges and have pled not guilty to two counts of possessing a "silver
imitation firearm" with intent to
commit those offences. The trial continues.
Liverpool Daily Post,
9 December 2008
Ronald Carroll of Gateacre,
Liverpool, has admitted carrying a loaded shotgun
in a public place. He will be sentenced in January.
Northern Echo,
9 December 2008 *
A man pointed a
shotgun at the face of a village
postmaster during a robbery in Wingate, County Durham. He
demanded money and he and another robber escaped with an undisclosed
quantity of cash. The robbery has been linked to two others in the
area (see March 2009 Incidents).
BBC,
9 December 2008
Three men robbed a sandwich
shop in Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire, after threatening staff with
what police believe was a shotgun.
They got away with a quantity of cash.
This
is Leicestershire,
8 December 2008
Two
airgun attacks have taken place in as many days in a street in
Beaumont Leys, Leicester. A man's car was shot at as he was
driving and two days later a bus carrying elderly people was fired at.
At least three passengers were badly shaken by the latter incident.
Stourbridge News,
8 December 2008
Ryan McGee has been found
guilty of being in possession of a sawn-off
shotgun. He produced the weapon when police officers
called at his home in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, after he
complained he had been burgled. The gun was found to have been
deactivated. He was charged with possessing an
imitation firearm and ammunition.
He has now been made the subject of a Hospital Order.
Somerset County Gazette,
8 December 2008
A man threatened staff at a
supermarket in Taunton, Somerset, with a
ball-bearing gun. Police are appealing for witnesses.
Manchester Evening News,
8 December 2008 *
An 18-year-old is apparently
fighting for her life after she was shot in the eye with an
air rifle in Bury. The air
rifle pellet appeared to have been fired through an eye and into her
brain. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but
has since been released without charge. The girl died in hospital
two weeks after the incident (BBC, 24 December 2008). Three
men have been cleared of possessing of a firearm without a certificate
(see
September 2009 Incidents).
A coroner has ruled that the death was accidental (see
November 2009 Incidents).
Express & Star,
8 December 2008
A man wielding a gun chased a
woman customer down a road in Coseley, West Midlands, after she
walked into a shop during a raid. The attacker threatened to shoot
her but no shots were fired. The man stole a small sum of money,
estimated to be less than £100.
The Standard,
7 December 2008
A 17-year-old boy was shot in
the leg in a park in Everton, Merseyside. He was being
treated in hospital and is said to be in a stable condition. His
injuries are not thought to be life threatening (Liverpool Echo, 8
December 2008).
Oxford Mail,
6 December 2008 *
Police were called to a
property in Didcot, Oxfordshire, following reports of a "domestic"
incident involving a man behaving erratically with a shotgun. A man
and a woman were arrested and a shotgun
was recovered from the scene. They have been charged with possession
of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and also with
possession of a firearm with intent to resist arrest (BBC, 7
December 2008). They have been cleared of the charges (Didcot
Herald, 6 July 2009).
Huddersfield Daily
Examiner,
6 December 2008
An air weapon was used to
damage a living room window in Almondbury, Huddersfield.
Huddersfield Daily
Examiner,
6 December 2008
A small
air weapon was stolen from the side of a
farm building in Clayton West, West Yorkshire.
BBC,
5 December 2008
A robber thought to have been
carrying a handgun concealed under his jacket demanded cash and restrained
a worker's hands at a shop in Cambridge. He then took the
man's wallet and £45 from the till.
BBC,
5 December 2008
Three teenagers and an older
man have been arrested on suspicion of being in unlawful possession of a
firearm by armed police acting on a tip-off in Hartlepool.
BBC,
5 December 2008
The police spoke to youths
after pellets were fired at shop windows with toy
guns bought from a stall in Market Drayton, Shropshire.
The guns were confiscated. The police said that the pellets were
hitting nearby premises and causing a nuisance.
Evening Chronicle,
4 December 2008
A man wielding a
shotgun
threatened staff and customers during a raid on a pub in North Shields,
Tyneside. The man demanded money and made off with what is believed
to be a small quantity of cash.
YourCanterbury.co.uk,
3 December 2008
Tristram Keen has been
sentenced to 18 months in prison after he shot a girl in the eye with an
airgun pellet. The incident
happened in Hersden, Kent, in July 2007. His victim, now aged
12, has been left with a pellet lodged behind her eye socket and has lost
the sight in the eye.
Oxford Times,
3 December 2008
A gang which caused thousands
of pounds of damage in drive-by shootings with a
ball bearing gun have been dealt with by magistrates. Six
people, aged between 16 and 19, were responsible for damage to 32 cars in
Witney, Carterton and Eynsham in Oxfordshire, in May
2008. Following an appeal for information a tip-off led to the
discovery of a gun at a house in Witney. Aaron Deakin-Harse, David
Jessiman, Callum Johnson, Neil Hull and two youths all admitted criminal
damage and some of them asked for similar offences to be considered.
They were given community orders of between 40 hours and 100 hours and
ordered to pay compensation. The gun has been destroyed under a
magistrates' order.
Hertfordshire Mercury,
3 December 2008
Antony Taylor, 15, from
Royston, Hertfordshire, has been given a two-year anti-social
behaviour order which prevents him, from other things, to be in possession
of any BB gun,
soft air pellet gun or imitation
weapon in a public place.
Evening Chronicle,
3 December 2008
A Glock
replica handgun, re-activated to fire
live rounds, was seized along with drugs and stolen goods in a police
crackdown targeted against suspects in Ashington, Blyth and
Cramlington in Northumberland. Two
BB guns were also seized.
Basingstoke Gazette,
3 December 2008
A teenager was shot in the
hand with an air rifle by a group of
boys in Basingstoke, Hampshire. The victim was walking with
two friends at the time. The boys in the group with the air rifle
are described as aged between 17 and 18.
Welwyn & Hatfield Times,
2 December 2008
Robbers stole thousands of
pounds after forcing their way into a home in Goffs Oak,
Hertfordshire. The two men, who were armed with a
shotgun, knocked
on the door before forcing their way into the house.
This is Lancashire,
2 December 2008
Wayne Catterall has been
sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to selling or
transferring ammunition unlawfully, possessing ammunition without a
certificate and possession of a firearm. Police had found a double
barrelled sawn-off shotgun and cartridges during a search in Bury
in January 2008. See also
July 2008 Incidents.
BBC, 2
December 2008
A man holding a gun walked
into the post office in Capel St Mary, Suffolk, and threatened
staff before leaving with money. He was wearing a Halloween mask
during the raid. In a second raid on the same post office a masked
man armed with a handgun made off with cash after demanding money (BBC,
20 December 2008).
Shropshire Star,
1 December 2008
An 11-year-old schoolboy was
"almost blinded" when fellow students fired ball-bearings at his head when
he was in the playground of his school in Market Drayton,
Shropshire. Two other students fired a
ball-bearing gun they had brought to the school. Three
pupils have been suspended.
Lancashire Telegraph,
1 December 2008
Armed police surrounded a car
in Little Harwood, Blackburn, after reports of two men brandishing
a handgun. Officers found two ball bearing
guns. A 20-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were
arrested on suspicion of firearms offences.
BBC,
1 December 2008
A group of teenagers filming
themselves with fake guns for a
project sparked an armed operation in Plymouth. Police
surrounded a property and two teenagers and a youth were detained.
Officers found an imitation handgun and rifle inside. They were
given a warning and released.
Sunday Mirror,
30
November 2008
Two men have been jailed for
their part in a hold up at a takeaway in Chorlton, Manchester, in
which they fled with £1000. Ryan Williams was sentenced to
eight-and-a-half years after holding a fake gun
to a man's head. Mark Greaves, who acted as a look out, was jailed
for six-and-a-half years.
BBC,
30
November 2008 *
A man has been shot dead by
police in Guildford, Surrey. Armed officers were deployed
following reports of an armed man. The Independent Police Complaints
Commission (IPCC) are investigating the
shooting. According to firearms experts the man was carrying a
blank firing 8mm self-loading pistol (BBC,
4 December 2008). An interim report published by the IPCC says that
the man told a passer-by he was "going to start killing a lot of people".
He had told a friend he expected to die. According to the report he
was shot by two officers, who issued a warning, after he pulled the pistol
from his coat, raised it and appeared to get it ready to fire (BBC,
19 December 2008). According to the IPCC police involved in the
shooting will not face criminal charges (BBC, 12 March 2009).
A jury has decided that David Sycamore was lawfully killed (BBC, 21
August 2009).
Sunderland Echo,
29
November 2008
A man is in hospital after
being shot with what is believed to have been an
airgun pellet in Sunderland. His injuries were not
believed to be life-threatening and his condition was described as stable.
BBC,
29
November 2008
A taxi driver is
recovering at home after being struck over the head with what is believed
to have been a handgun. He was attacked by two men in Normanton,
Derby, who then drove off is his car.
This is Gloucestershire,
28
November 2008
David Melles, a member of the
Outlaws gang involved in the murder of a biker (see below), has been
jailed for 12 years after sawn-off and pump-action shotguns, dum dum
bullets and a Derringer pistol were found at his house in Selsley,
Gloucestershire, by police had who stopped a car in which he was travelling
at a roadblock. Although there was no known link between the weapons
and the biker's death, details of this case could only be published after
the conviction of the M40 killers. Melles had pleaded guilty to 10
charges of having prohibited firearms and ammunition.
This is Cornwall,
28
November 2008
A train windscreen was damaged
when it was hit by a pellet fired from an air
rifle near to St Erth station in Cornwall. A £1000
reward has been offered for information relating to the incident.
Sunderland Echo,
28
November 2008 *
A man is on trial having
denied making an explosive substance without a lawful objective.
Police found a pipe bomb in a safe in his bedroom in Durham in
November 2007. Also in the safe were two
imitation firearms, knives and ammunition. David Riding
is awaiting sentence after being found guilty of manufacturing the pipe
bomb without lawful purpose (The Journal, 24 January 2009).
South London Press,
28
November 2008 *
Three men from south London
have been jailed for firearms offences. Kadie Spence, 20, has been
sentenced to six-and-a-half years after being found guilty of possessing a
loaded handgun after being seen throwing the gun from a moving car in
Nunhead in February 2008. Eston Barton received a five-year
sentence for possession of a handgun and live ammunition after being
arrested in September at his home in Peckham. Andre Alexander
was given five years and nine months after being found guilty of
possessing firearms and ammunition and supplying cannabis. Police
found two handguns, a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition together with drugs
and dealing paraphernalia at a flat in Camberwell in March 2008.
Evening Chronicle,
28
November 2008
An 11-year-old boy was lucky
to escape with minor injuries when he was shot with a
pellet gun at close range as he played
with friends in woods at Beacon Lough, Gateshead. He needed
staples in his head after being shot with a brass pellet. The gun
was fired by one of three older boys who held the weapon at the boy's head
and pulled the trigger.
Bucks Free Press,
28
November 2008
A man armed with a gun made
off with a large amount of cash which he seized from security guards at a
garage in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He escaped in a car
being driven by another man.
BBC,
28 November 2008
A Mac-10 sub machine gun
recovered by police from a garden in south London in September 2008
has been linked to an operation where replica
weapons were converted into lethal weapons in a factory in
Three Mile Cross, Berkshire. Grant Wilkinson was jailed for life
in August 2008 (see Incidents)
for turning the replicas into weapons, which have been linked to more than
50 shootings. Police have offered a £10,000 reward for any
information leading to the recovery of 40 outstanding converted guns.
Yorkshire Evening Post,
27 November 2008
Shaun Cockerham pointed an
air rifle out of the bathroom window
of his parents' home in Castleford, West Yorkshire, and fired at
a neighbour and his 14-year-old son. The incident occurred in
November 2007. The man was hit in the right side and a pellet went
through his son's jeans but caused no injury. Cockerham was
convicted of assault, attempted assault and possessing a firearm when he
was prohibited from doing so. He has 35 previous convictions and
has been jailed for three years.
Liverpool Daily Post,
27 November 2008
A 15-year-old boy has been
detained after a sawn-off shotgun was found at a house in St Helens,
Merseyside. He has appeared before magistrates charged with
possession of a firearm.
Cambridge News,
27 November 2008
A man wielding a silver
handgun robbed a betting shop in Cambridge. He placed a bag
on top of the counter and ordered the staff to fill it with cash.
He left the shop with just over £500.
Bolton News,
27
November 2008
Police found a machine gun and
other weapons during a raid on a travellers' site in Bolton.
Four men were arrested as part of an operation to crack down on burglary
and handling stolen goods.
BBC,
27 November 2008 *
A man has been killed
following a drive-by shooting in West Croydon, south London.
He was taken to hospital where he later died. Two 18-year-old has
been arrested in connection with the shooting in December (BBC,
23 December 2008), and a teenager and a man were arrested in January .
It has been reported that the murder weapon was "fairly distinctive .22
calibre gun, probably a revolver type" (BBC, 15 January 2009).
BBC,
27 November 2008 *
Six men have now been found
guilty of murdering a Hells Angel on the M40 in Warwickshire in
August 2007 (see Incidents).
The victim was shot as he returned from a biker festival. Malcolm
Bull, Dean Taylor, Simon Turner, Dane Garside were convicted of murder
and a firearms offence, Karl Garside and Ian Cameron were found guilty
of murder but cleared of possessing a shotgun. A seventh man, Sean
Creighton, admitted murder and firearms offences before the trial began.
They have all been given life sentences with a minimum of 25 to 30 years
in jail (BBC, 28 November 2008). Appeals launched by five
of the men have been refused (News Shopper, 26 July 2010).
Daily Echo,
26 November 2008
Police believe that a
ball bearing gun may have been used to
cause damage to more than 20 vehicles and at least seven bus shelters in
and around Southbourne and Christchurch in Dorset.
Vandals took pot shots from a moving car.
Manchester Evening News,
25 November 2008
Nathan Flaherty has been
jailed for ten years for blasting another man in the back and chest with
a sawn-off shotgun as part of a feud in the Partington area of
Manchester in June 2008 (see
Incidents). The victim was shot through the windscreen
of a car in which he was asleep and was hit again as he tried to escape.
Flaherty fled from Manchester but gave himself up to the police.
He admitted offences of causing grievous bodily harm with intent and
possessing the shotgun.
BBC,
25 November 2008 *
A man has been charged with
attempted murder following a shooting incident in South Kirkby,
West Yorkshire, in which the victim was shot in the arm. One other
man remains in custody and two males have been released on bail.
Two men and a teenager has also been charged with conspiracy to commit
murder (BBC, 23 December 2008). Two men are now on trial
and have denied charges of attempted murder, an alternative charge of
wounding with intent and possession of a
shotgun with intent to cause fear of violence. Two
others have denied attempted murder and wounding with intent (Hemsworth
& South Elmsall Express, 7 May 2009). Four men have been
found guilty of various charges but were found not guilty of attempted
murder (see June 2009
Incidents).
BBC,
25 November 2008
A family was threatened with
knives and a stun gun by two men who escaped with cash and jewellery
during a robbery at their home in Luton, Bedfordshire.
BBC,
25 November 2008
Faisal Mostafa has been
given a suspended sentence for trying to board a plane at Manchester
Airport with a gas-powered pistol and bullet parts in his suitcase.
He admitted possessing dangerous articles on an aircraft after he failed
to declare them when he checked in. Prosecutors did not dispute
they were for hunting and that the gun, which was packed in component
parts, had been purchased as a gift for his brother-in-law in
Bangladesh. In 1996 he had been found guilty of illegally
possessing a firearm, sentenced to four years in prison and banned for
life from possessing a firearm. He was given a 56 day prison
sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 100 hours of
unpaid work.
The Gazette (Blackpool),
24 November 2008
A man from Ansdell,
Blackpool, has been charged with possessing a firearm and 11 rounds of
ammunition without a firearms certificate. The weapon and bullets
were said to have been found hidden in a cushion at his home.
Bolton News,
24 November 2008
Jason Pearson threatened two
women within an hour by holding a gun to their heads in a Bolton
subway in January 2008 (see
Incidents). He was aged 16 at the time. He has
been jailed for four years with a further one year on licence when he is
released after pleading guilty to two counts of robbery and one count of
sexual assault.
BBC,
24 November 2008
A man armed with an
air rifle opened fire on police
officers when they were called to an address in Weymouth,
Dorset. A man has been arrested.
BBC,
24 November 2008
A house was damaged during a
shooting in Cheadle, Greater Manchester. One bullet damaged the
front door. Four men were seem walking away from the house.
BBC,
24 November 2008
A man "brandishing a
firearm" demanded money from staff at a convenience store in Falmouth,
Cornwall. He stole £600.
Press Association,
22 November 2008 *
A man has died after a
shooting in an alleyway in Ealing, west London. He was
pronounced dead at the scene. Six teenagers have been charged with
murder (Ealing Gazette, 27 February 2009).
Evening Chronicle,
21 November 2008
Daniel McDowell and Sean Hall
raided a bookmakers in Gateshead in August 2008 (see
Incidents),
threatening staff with an imitation pistol and demanding cash. They
have both pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing the
imitation firearm and knife.
Both have been jailed for five years, plus a further two to run
concurrently.
Daily Echo,
21 November 2008
Police have seized
BB guns from a Christmas shop in Poole,
Dorset, where they were on sale alongside decorations and gifts. The
guns included a full-scale replica of an M85 rifle type. The guns
are now the subject of a hands-on investigation over fears they are
realistic enough to be mistaken for the real thing. The Violent
Crime Reduction Act 2006 prohibits the manufacture, sale or import of
realistic-looking imitation firearms.
BBC,
21
November 2008
Two masked men armed with a
handgun threatened a post office worker during an attempted robbery in
Epping, Essex. They tried to steal money from the till but
failed and ran off.
This is Hampshire,
20 November 2008
Armed police were called out
when a 14-year-old boy was seen with a gun in Andover, Hampshire.
The police seized a BB gun and
pellets. The youth and a 12-year-old boy have been spoken to by
police officers.
Sun,
20 November 2008 *
An army sergeant has appeared
before a disciplinary hearing after allegedly firing off an AK47 rifle and
leaving bullet holes in the walls of an office at a barracks in
Blackwater, Hampshire. An officer hurt his hand when diving for
cover. The sergeant has appeared in court on a charge of possession
of a firearm with intent to cause violence. He has pleaded guilty
and has been jailed for six years
(see June
2009 Incidents).
The Sentinel,
20 November 2008
Carers who believed they were at risk stopped their visits to an elderly disabled woman after
discovering a starter pistol in her home in Stoke-on-Trent. The
pistol belonged to her husband who explained it was harmless. The
council has now sent in temporary carers and is investigating the
incident.
BBC,
20 November 2008
Police have revealed that a
man found dead at an address in Tividale, West Midlands, earlier
this month had been shot in the chest with a shotgun. A woman was
also found to have been assaulted, leaving her with a minor head injury.
BBC,
20 November 2008
A 9-year-old girl was shot
with an air pistol as she left a
primary school in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. She
was treated immediately and then went home. Although not thought to
be seriously hurt she was very shocked. A 10-year-old boy has been
arrested.
BBC,
20
November 2008
Two 11-year-old children have
been shot with a BB gun while walking
with friends in York. A girl had a pellet mark on her back
which was bleeding and the boy was left with a red and bruised leg.
A 12-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the attack (The
Press, 24 November 2008).
Yorkshire Evening Post,
19
November 2008
A man has been shot in
Chapeltown, Leeds. He was found after an ambulance was called to
an address in a nearby street. He is in hospital and was said to be
in a stable condition with a stomach wound.
Oxford Mail,
19
November 2008 *
A teenager is believed to have
been shot with an air pistol when he
was attacked by two men at the crematorium in Barton, Oxford.
He has a fractured elbow and an eye injury which could have been caused by
an air pistol. Two teenagers have been charged, one with causing
grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of an imitation firearm with
intent to cause fear and dangerous driving and the other with causing
grievous bodily harm with intent and possession of an offensive weapon (Oxford
Mail, 20 November 2008). Two men have received jail sentences
(see July 2009 Incidents).
Northampton Chronicle &
Echo,
19
November 2008
Gary Blundred, 18, shot a
14-year-old boy in the face with an air weapon
whilst they were fishing in St James, Northampton, in June 2008.
He had the weapon with him to scare off wild fowl and had fired it
parallel to the bank. The victim still has a metal pellet lodged in
his skull. Blundred admitted wounding and was given 162 hours of
community service and was ordered to pay £500 in compensation.
Northampton Chronicle &
Echo,
19
November 2008
A shotgun was fired through
the front door of a home in Kingsley, Northampton. A hole was
blasted through the door. No one was injured.
The Gazette
(Blackpool),
19
November 2008
Andrew Naylor pointed a
fake gun at a librarian's head when he
was asked to leave a library in Blackpool in January 2008. He
twice pulled the trigger on the pistol. He pleaded guilty to
possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
He was placed on 18 months supervision with a requirement to live where
directed by the probation service.
BBC,
19
November 2008 *
Two people were arrested after
reports that a firearm had been discharged in Normanton, Derby.
A man has been jailed for seven years after admitting possessing a
prohibited firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with intent
to cause fear of violence but was found not guilty of the more serious
charge of intending to kill or serious injure someone (see
June 2009 Incidents).
St Albans & Harpenden
Review,
18
November 2008
Adam Boon has pleaded guilty
to possession of an imitation firearm
with intent to cause fear of violence to another man. He was
visiting a friend in St Albans, Hertfordshire, when their noise
disturbed a neighbour who did not accept their apology. Boon said he
was frightened and took the pistol, which did not work, to show the man he
was armed. The judge said it would be unjust to sentence him to the
recommended minimum sentence of five years and jailed him for 18 months.
Northern Echo,
18
November 2008
A robber brandishing a weapon,
possibly a handgun, targeted a cash delivery at a cash point at a
supermarket in Yarm, Teesside. He grabbed an amount of cash
and made off in a car driven by another suspect.
Northumberland Gazette,
17
November 2008
Police believe that a series
of airgun attacks in Tyneside are
linked. A man was hit on his hand in Pelaw and the police
received a report of damage to windows in Heworth. Later a
porch window in Pelaw was damaged.
Liverpool Echo,
17
November 2008
Nathan McGrail, 18, has been
jailed for six years for possessing a handgun and bullets used in a
robbery and was given a seven-year-sentence to run concurrently for
possessing an Uzi submachine gun. He had been wanted in connection
with a spate of shootings in Huyton, Merseyside. His cousin
Jason McGrail, 19, was also given a seven year sentence after he was
caught in a taxi carrying an Uzi, a silencer and dozens of cartridges.
George Sweeney was sentenced for three years for attempting to retrieve a
gun used by the McGrail family.
Liverpool Echo,
17
November 2008
A shotgun was fired at a house
in Netherton, Merseyside, in an early morning attack. The
family living at the house escaped injury.
BBC,
17
November 2008
A man is seriously ill in
hospital after being shot in the leg in a pub in Moss Side,
Manchester. He was said by police to be in a serious condition and
was "lucky to be alive".
This is Plymouth,
14
November 2008
A 16-year-old has pleaded
guilty to possession of an air weapon
in a public place after police were called when a youth was seen with a
gun heading towards a fast food restaurant in Plymouth in July 2008
(see Incidents).
Police believe that an organised fight had been planned. It was
claimed that the teenager did not own the gun which belonged to another
youth who was carrying two knives and was also arrested. He has been
given a six month referral order. The BB gun will be forfeited and
destroyed.
This is Derbyshire,
14
November 2008
A teenager was jailed for five
years after police found a .38 compact revolver at a home in Allenton,
Derby. They also found ammunition in a bag with the gun and in his
house, as well as cannabis and drug paraphernalia. Ferrari
Forrest-Clarke pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited firearm, two
charges of possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate,
possessing prohibited ammunition and possessing cannabis with intent to
supply.
BBC,
14
November 2008
Ten teenagers have been
arrested in Croxteth, Merseyside, on suspicion of possession of a firearm.
They were stopped by police who thought they were acting suspiciously.
A weapon, believed to be a decommissioned firearm, was recovered.
BBC,
14
November 2008
A man brandished a handgun and
demanded cash from an assistant at a garage on the A19 near Easington,
County Durham. He ran out of the store without taking any money.
Telegraph,
13
November 2008
A coroner has recorded an open
verdict at an inquest into the death of a man who was found dead by armed
police at his home in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, in January
2008. He shot himself with an unsecured shotgun owned by his
housemate, but the coroner concluded that the evidence did not match the
standard of proof for a finding of suicide.
Telegraph,
13
November 2008
A teenage girl who smuggled a
ball-bearing pistol into her school in
Manchester has been excluded. It is believed that the police
were tipped off by one of her classmates.
Grantham Journal,
13
November 2008
Armed police officers were
called to a house in Grantham, Lincolnshire, following reports that
a man was making threats with an air rifle.
He was persuaded to give himself voluntarily and has been arrested on
suspicion of assault not relating to the air rifle.
Express & Star,
13
November 2008
Phillip Kent, a memorabilia
collector from Stafford, has been jailed for five years for
possessing a Second World War rifle listed as a prohibited weapon.
He was arrested by police acting on information and pleaded guilty to
possessing the rifle.
BBC,
13
November 2008 *
A man has been arrested after
firing a "number of firearms" while police officers were negotiating with
him at a property in the Derriford area of Plymouth. A Taser stun
gun was fired by officers during the incident. A man has been
charged with holding a young woman hostage and threatening her with a
handgun. He faces charges under the Firearms Act of possessing a
stun gun, a shotgun without holding a firearms certificate and a handgun.
He faces other drug and criminal property charges (This is Plymouth,
13 December 2008).
Worcester News,
12
November 2008
A man was threatened with a
gun, tied up, beaten with a crowbar and had holes drilled in his legs with
a screwdriver by three men at his home near Mustow Green,
Worcestershire. The men stole a quantity of cash. The victim
was left for 15 hours until someone found him.
Wigan Evening Post,
12
November 2008
A man from Standish,
Lancashire, has appeared at court to face child pornography and firearm
offences. He is alleged to have had a prohibited weapon and
ammunition without a certificate.
Manchester Evening News,
12
November 2008
A silver revolver used to
murder a man at a takeaway in Stretford in January 2008 (see
Incidents) was found
by detectives when they searched a house in East Didsbury, Greater
Manchester, in May as part of an unconnected investigation. A
forensic link has been made to bullets found at the scene of the murder.
Asim Bashir was jailed for six years for possession of a firearm with
intent to endanger life in September 2008 in connection with the seizure.
No one has been convicted for the fatal shooting.
Lancashire Evening Post,
12
November 2008
Two men, aged 20 and 18, have
both pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of a man who was hit by 56
shotgun pellets in his upper body when he was shot and beaten with a
baseball bat in Preston in April 2008. They also deny
possession of a firearm with intent to commit murder. The shooting
is alleged to have resulted from a drugs feud between rival gangs from the
Deepdale and Fishwick areas of the city. Kyle Parvez, 20, has been
found guilty of attempted murder and also of possession of a firearm with
intent to commit murder. Zainul James, 18, has been found guilty of
arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered. They will
be sentenced in December (The Citizen, 19 November 2008).
BBC,
12
November 2008
Four people have been arrested
in connection with a shooting in Rugeley, Staffordshire. A
man was shot in the bottom with a gun when a man came out of the bushes.
BBC,
12
November 2008
Two men, one armed with a gun,
forced their way into a home in Slough, Berkshire, and demanded
cash from the occupants. They made off with money and two mobile
phones.
BBC,
12
November 2008 *
A 15-year-old boy has died
after being shot in the chest as he was walking along a street in the
Sunnyhill area of Derby. He was taken to hospital where he
died from his injuries. A 19-year-old and an 18-year-old have been
charged with murder and two more people face charges of helping an
offender (BBC, 19 November 2008). A teenager has admitted
murder and a second man was found guilty or murder (see
October 2009 Incidents).
Birmingham Mail,
11
November 2008
A man was mugged at gunpoint
as he stood outside a shop in Smethwick, West Midlands. Two
men threatened him with the gun and demanded money.
BBC,
11
November 2008
A 15-year-old has been
arrested after another 15-year-old was shot in the leg in Pendeford,
West Midlands. The victim was treated in hospital and later
discharged.
North West Evening Mail,
10
November 2008
A boy, described as around 15
years old, is reported to have opened fire with a
ball bearing gun while standing at a bus
stop in Barrow, Cumbria. A store window was broken. He
travelled by bus to Walney where homes in three streets were hit.
The boy was in the company of another male and two females.
Manchester Evening News,
10 November 2008
Police carried out raids at 17
addresses in Longsight and one in Tameside in an operation
to crackdown on young gangsters before they become involved in major
gangland shootings. Six people were arrested.
Evening Gazette,
10
November 2008
A boy aged 12 escaped serious
injuries after being shot with an air weapon
or BB type gun in Thorntree,
Middlesbrough. He suffered reddening and bruising and a slight
puncturing of the skin.
Bury Free Press,
10
November 2008
A man threatened staff with a
small handgun at a hotel in Fornham St Genevieve, Suffolk. He
was given cash and then left the premises.
BBC,
10 November 2008
Ronald Higgins has admitted
attempting to rob a newsagent but has denied murdering him.
The victim was shot dead in his store in Huyton, Merseyside, in May
2008 (see Incidents).
Higgins has also admitted possession of a .44 Pietta muzzle loading
revolver at the time of committing the offence as well as a number of
other firearms charges. He admitted having a firearm and ammunition
in a public place in Broad Green, Liverpool, possessing a stun gun
and purchasing a semi-automatic pistol. He pleaded guilty to two
other counts of possessing prohibited weapons including two stun guns at a
property in Knotty Ash and another revolver. A trial is
expected to take place in February 2009.
BBC,
10 November 2008
A man was in a serious
condition in hospital after being found in a car outside Beckton
DLR station, east London, with at least one gunshot wound. Two men
have been arrested (BBC, 11 November 2008).
Avon and Somerset
Police,
10
November 2008
Two people were shot at in
separate incidents involving a ball bearing gun.
In the first incident a man out running in Henbury,
Gloucestershire, was shot and struck in the face. Ten minutes later
a man walking in Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire, was hit in the
face with a shot fired from a car.
Northumberland Gazette,
9
November 2008
Three teenagers have been
arrested after a woman was shot in the eye with an
airgun pellet in Sunderland.
BBC,
9
November 2008
A man pointed a small handgun
at staff during a raid at a fast food restaurant in Waltham Abbey,
Essex. He threatened staff and forced them to open the till, took
money from it and then ran out of the restaurant.
Liverpool Echo,
8
November 2008
John Muldoon robbed five
Merseyside taxi drivers at gunpoint. The robberies in Huyton,
Southport, Maghull and the centre of Liverpool took
place in a seven week period around January 2008. He pleaded guilty
to six robberies and six offences of possessing an
imitation
firearm with intent and has been given an 11-year jail
sentence. His cousin Stephen Black, 19, admitted his involvement in
one of the offences and was sentenced to 21 months.
Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough),
8
November 2008
Stuart Sillitoe has admitted
attempted robbery and possession of an imitation
firearm and been jailed for four years. He brandished a
"weapon" in front of three female staff at a post office in
Middlesbrough and demanded cash in a bag. One member of staff
pressed the panic alarm button and Sillitoe fled empty handed. The
weapon was a scaffold pole wrapped in a towel.
Echo (Essex),
8
November 2008
A lorry driver was tied up and
robbed after being threatened by two men, one of whom told him he had a
gun, at a service area in Thurrock and forced to drive across
Essex. He was ordered to stop at two unknown locations before being
told to pull up in a lay-by where two containers were unloaded from the
lorry onto another lorry. He was found at Fyfield (BBC, 8
November 2008).
BBC,
8
November 2008
Three shotguns and an
air
rifle were stolen from a farm in Trafford, Greater Manchester,
along with a number of valuable antiques.
BBC,
8
November 2008 *
Two men threatened staff with
a gun and an axe during an armed robbery at a hotel in Bristol.
A man has been found guilty of robbery and having a handgun with intent to
rob (see March 2009 Incidents).
Mercury
(Hertfordshire),
7
November 2008
Alan Parker ran outside with
an airgun when he thought youngsters
deliberately aimed fireworks at his home in Hertford. Armed
police who closed the road outside his house to arrest him say they were
responding to reports that a shotgun was involved. Four shotguns and
cartridges from a gun cabinet were seized as well as the airgun.
BBC,
7
November 2008
A man has been arrested after
a rifle was fired at police from a house in Bognor, Sussex.
The officers had been called to reports that a man had injured himself.
The gun is reported to have been an air rifle
(The Argus, 10 November 2008). A man has pleaded guilty to
possession of an air weapon with intent to cause fear or violence and
possession of a bladed article in a public place (see
February 2009 Incidents).
Southern Daily Echo,
6
November 2008
Two armed robbers held up a
taxi driver in Southampton, wrenching open his door, pointing
a black handgun at him and demanding money
Rugby Advertiser,
6
November 2008
Staff were held at gunpoint in
an attack during an event at a Rugby hotel. Two men, 0ne
armed with a shotgun, got away with a high value quantity of jewellery.
Huddersfield Daily
Examiner,
6
November 2008
Two teenagers, Ashley Matthews
and John Moorhouse, have admitted assault after a woman was hit in the
head by an airgun pellet in
Waterloo, Huddersfield. They were ordered to do 150 hours and
200 hours unpaid work, respectively. Moorhouse was given a two-month
compensation order.
Halesowen News,
6
November 2008
Liam Ford was involved in a
violent carjack at gunpoint and was then in a gang who fired shots as they
tried to rob a betting shop in Oldbury, West Midlands, using the
car as a getaway vehicle. He has been jailed for a total of 17 and a
half years. His accomplice Ryan Kirk had been sent to prison for a
total of nine years.
Evening Star,
6
November 2008
A shotgun, ammunition and a
quantity of cash were stolen during a break-in at a house in Wickham
Market, Suffolk.
Evening Courier,
6
November 2008
Two men and a youth have
appeared in court in connection with an armed robbery at a bookmakers in
Ovenden, West Yorkshire, in July 2008. Nathan Hutchinson, 18,
admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice by allowing a
blank firing pistol to be concealed at his address.
Jonathan Williams and the youth pleaded guilty to robbery.
Buxton Advertiser,
6
November 2008
Staff at an off-licence in
Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire were threatened with a gun and a bat by
robbers. Three youths demanded cash but when staff refused they left
the shop with a bottle of vodka and two bottles of brandy.
Bolton News,
6
November 2008
A gunshot was fired when armed
raiders tried to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds during a raid on a
security depot in Kearsley, Bolton. The gang of three men
failed to gain access to the building and a security van and fled empty
handed.
BBC,
6
November 2008
A female armed robber fired a
shot into the floor during a failed raid on a post office in High Spen,
Tyneside. The postmistress refused to hand over money.
BBC,
5
November 2008
A man pointed a gun at two
people at a post office in Watford, Hertfordshire, during a failed
attempt to steal cash.
BBC,
5
November 2008
A 17-year-old youth was
seriously injured in a shooting in Wavertree, Liverpool. He
was taken to hospital where he remained in a serious but stable condition.
Mail,
4
November 2008
An internet trader has been
jailed for five years. David Sampson from Sittingbourne,
Kent, sold deactivated weapons on eBay and traded guns on the auction site
as a legitimate collector. He stockpiled grenades, a rocket launcher
and guns, most of which were legally held, but police found a 9 mm Luger
self-loading pistol and a Belgian pistol hidden when they raided the
property in October 2006. He was convicted of four gun-related
charges, two of possessing a prohibited firearm, possessing a shotgun
without a certificate and possessing a rocket launcher.
Evening Star,
4
November 2008
A man has been charged with
threatening another with a firearm at a block of flats in Ipswich.
It is believed that the weapon was an air rifle.
Burton Mail,
4
November 2008
An alcoholic from
Swadlincote, Derbyshire, who had threatened to kill himself with an
air rifle, which the police duly seized
but had to return to him, was able to use the weapon two months later to
shoot himself fatally in the stomach in June 2008. The coroner
recorded a verdict of suicide.
Ham & High,
3
November 2008 *
A gunman opened fire on a
police car in Highgate, north London. The officers escaped
without injury. A man who allegedly threatened a dog handler with a
shotgun was arrested. Two teenagers were also arrested in relation to
the incident. A man has admitted a number of offences and been
jailed for a minimum of five years (see
August 2009 Incidents).
Eastern Daily Press,
3
November 2008
A 13-year-old was shot in the
stomach with a ball-bearing gun while
out trick-or-treating in Lowestoft, Suffolk. In a separate
incident a woman was struck on the hand by a
paintball pellet.
BBC,
3
November 2008
A man was hit in the face with
an airgun pellet in Telford,
Shropshire. The victim is said to be in a comfortable condition in
hospital after the pellet became lodged in his cheek. He also
suffered swelling to the bridge of his nose.
BBC,
3
November 2008
A drug addict, Graeme Kee, has
pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished
responsibility. He shot his stepfather three times at his home in
Liverpool in October 2007 (see
November 2007 Incidents). He has been given an
indeterminate sentence and must serve four years before he can apply for
parole.
The Citizen
(Burnley), 2
November 2008
Daniel McLaughlin has been jailed after "charging"
outside his house in Nelson, Lancashire,
with a loaded airgun and a Samurai
sword after getting angry at a youth in September 2008.
Residents, one of them feared for his life,
alerted police.
McLaughlin admitted possessing a loaded air weapon in public and
possessing an offensive weapon. He was jailed for 44 weeks.
West Sussex County Times,
31 October 2008
A sawn-off shotgun has been
found dumped in a pond in Partridge Green, Sussex. It was
covered in thick mud. The weapon had been modified to the style used
by criminals.
Watford Observer,
31 October 2008 *
A masked robber threatened
post office staff at gunpoint in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.
The man brandished a silver handgun and ordered staff to hand over what is
believed to be a substantial amount of cash. A man has been accused
of this and other armed robberies (see
December 2008 Incidents).
This is North Devon,
31 October 2008
A roadside sniper is targeting
buses travelling through a housing estate in Barnstaple, Devon, it
is claimed. Bus drivers have warned managers they might refuse to
work on one service because of fears for their safety and that of their
passengers. An airgun pellet hit
a bus windscreen leaving a hole in the glass.
This is Bristol,
30 October 2008
A former student was shot with
an airgun whilst drinking a
glass of wine outside a bar in Bristol. She felt a sudden
stinging pain in her neck.
Suffolk Free Press,
30 October 2008
Paul Cunningham has been
convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
He showed an air pistol to a worker at
a bus depot in Bures, Suffolk, whom he suspected of knowing who had
stolen his car in June 2008. In his defence Cunningham had admitted
ownership of the gun but that he had used it only for shooting rats at a
scrapyard. He will be sentenced later.
Mail,
30 October 2008 *
A 16-year-old has been killed
in a shooting incident at the headquarters of a hunt in Paulerspury,
Northamptonshire. His body was discovered in one of the kennels.
Police are not treating the death as suspicious. A post mortem has
revealed that he died from a gunshot wound to the head (Northampton
Chronicle & Echo, 4 November 2008). A coroner has recorded a
verdict of suicide after an inquest heard the teenager shot himself with a
.32 pistol, normally used to destroy animals (Northampton
Chronicle & Echo, 30 April 2009).
Mail,
30 October 2008
A pensioner in his eighties
died less than 48 hours after robbers threatened him and his son with a
shotgun at his home in Cookham Dean, Berkshire. The thieves
stole property. An initial post-mortem suggested that death was due
to natural causes.
Evening Courier,
30 October 2008
A man has been firing an
air rifle at street lights and windows in
the Mytholmroyd and Luddenden Foot areas in West Yorkshire.
Police wish to speak to him about the criminal damage.
Echo (Essex),
30 October 2008
A man blasted himself in the
face with a shotgun in front of police in a failed suicide bid. He
was left with severe facial injuries after the incident in Englefield
Green, Surrey. He remains in a critical condition.
BBC, 30 October 2008
A man was being treated in
hospital after being shot in the hand in Halewood, Merseyside.
Police believe he was the victim of a targeted attack.
BBC, 30 October 2008
A teenager armed with a gun
attacked and robbed a woman as she walked along a road in Walker,
Tyneside. The robber stole her handbag. Police said they did
not know if the gun was real or an imitation
weapon.
Tottenham, Wood Green
& Edmonton Journal,
29 October 2008
A man fled his car when two
hooded men threatened him with what is believed to have been a sawn-off
shotgun in Tottenham, north London.
This is Kent,
29 October 2008
A 12-year-old boy was robbed
at gunpoint as he walked through Herne Bay, Kent. Three
suspects, both teenagers, were later arrested. An
imitation handgun was recovered soon
after the robbery.
This is Kent,
29 October 2008
Maxwell Brown, 18, from
Westerham, Kent, has been told to "keep out of trouble" after shooting
his neighbour's garden ornaments with an air
rifle. He pleaded guilty to criminal damage.
Sunderland Echo,
29 October 2008
An
airgun was fired at young people working in a park in Dawdon,
County Durham,
as the team were cutting back trees. It is believed that the weapon
had a telescopic sight and was fired with a silencer.
Runcorn & Widnes World,
29 October 2008
Armed police swooped on four
homes in Widnes, Cheshire, after an alleged incident involving
imitation guns in a town park earlier in the month. They
seized a number of items, believed to be imitation firearms. A
19-year-old has been charged with possession of an imitation firearm in a
public place with intent to cause fear of violence. Two 16-year-old
boys have been charged with the same offence. A fourth teenager
received a reprimand.
Leyland Guardian,
29 October 2008
Michael Parkinson has been
jailed for a year after he brandished a .177 air
rifle during an argument over girls in Leyland,
Lancashire, in May 2008 (see
Incidents). A shot was heard and a tin of pellets was
later recovered from bushes.
The Gazette
(Blackpool),
29 October 2008
Philip Hartless has been
jailed for two years and two months after pleading guilty to assault and
possessing an imitation firearm with
intent to cause fear of violence. The conviction follows an attack
on a man in a Blackpool takeaway in May 2008. Armed with the
gun Hartless hit his victim over the head before the man struggled and
tried to grab the gun. He was arrested later.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
29 October 2008
A shotgun was fired at a pub
in Salford when drinkers were inside. Police recovered two
shotgun cartridges and found a bullet hole on an internal door.
No-one was injured.
Evening Telegraph
(Peterborough),
29 October 2008
A teenage paperboy was shot at
by a gang of skateboard-riding youths while doing his round in
Peterborough. He believes the weapon was an
air rifle. He was left shaken and
in tears after the incident. The victim's father said he felt let
down by the police who took more than five hours to respond to his call
after the event.
BBC,
29 October 2008 *
A man seen carrying a gun has
been shot dead in the street by police in Harold Hill, east London.
The police had been responding to an apparent domestic dispute between a
man and a woman. Firearms have been recovered from the scene.
The Directorate of Public Standards and the Independent Police Complaints
Commission have been informed. It is reported that he had the man
had brandished a gun at children (Telegraph, 29 October 2008).
He was armed with imitations of an
AK47 assault rifle and a police issue machine gun. An inquest jury
has reached a verdict of lawful killing into his death (Romford
Recorder, 18 June 2010).
This is Exeter,
28 October 2008
A mother driving with her
4-year-old daughter in Pinhoe, Devon, was fired at. A
ball-bearing hit the driver's door.
She says she could have crashed if the shot had been 1 ft higher and
smashed her window. A mechanic at a nearby garage had also heard
shots from an air weapon earlier in the day.
Lakeland Echo,
28 October 2008
Daniel Doherty and Stuart
Taggart were each given jail terms of five years and four months after a
court heard how they tried to hide a sawn-off double-barrel shotgun in
long grass in Lancaster. The gun was found when a council
worker went to trim the grass in June 2007. Both men pleaded guilty
to a charge of possessing a prohibited firearm.
Worcester News,
27 October 2008
A woman has been shot as she
walked her dogs in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire. She
felt a short sharp pain under her arm and later realised she had a small
puncture wound. An x-ray showed an airgun
pellet was lodged under her skin.
This is Lancashire,
27 October 2008
Fation Peqici was arrested for
carrying five guns in a car which was stopped in Wigan in June
2008. He pleaded guilty to possessing firearms and ammunition with
intent to endanger life, possession of a prohibited weapon without a
firearm certificate and possession of ammunition without a firearm
certificate. He will be sentenced at a later date. Another man
is standing trial for the same offences.
Leigh Journal,
27 October 2008
A man who photographed himself
holding a gun has been jailed for five years after a shotgun and
ammunition were recovered in Oldham. Gavin Whiteman pleaded
guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon. The gun was found after
police were called to a disturbance in December 2007.
East Anglian Daily Times,
27 October 2008
A shotgun and around 200
ammunition cartridges were stolen from a car parked in Bildeston,
Suffolk. A window was smashed and items were taken from the vehicle.
Kent Online,
25 October 2008
John McDonagh was seen acting
suspiciously driving his car with two other men in Lydd, Kent.
Police who were called found a shotgun wrapped in a towel in the boot.
He has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years after admitting possessing
a prohibited firearms and a further nine months for breaching a suspended
term for burglary.
The Gazette
(Blackpool),
25 October 2008 *
A man has been charged
following a failed attempt to rob a bank in Blackpool. He has
been charged with robbery using an imitation
firearm and also with being in possession of a firearm.
He has pleaded guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation firearm and
received a jail sentence of six years and four months (See
December 2008 Incidents).
BBC,
25 October 2008
A robber threatened staff at a
hair salon in Reddish, Greater Manchester, with a gun and demanded
cash from the till. He left the shop with the takings.
East Anglian Daily
Times,
24 October 2008
Suffolk Police are appealing
for information after two airgun
attacks. A motorist was shot at on a roundabout in Haverhill.
The next day a woman walking in Brandon was fired at from a moving
car and suffered bruising.
Western Daily Press,
23 October 2008 *
A man armed with an
air rifle has been arrested after a
four-hour siege at a house in Tredworth, Gloucester. Police
were called after reports the man was threatening to harm himself and
damage the house. He has been given an eight month jail sentence
after admitting having an imitation firearm with the intent to cause fear
of violence (see January 2009
Incidents).
Swindon Advertiser,
23 October 2008
A woman was shot in the knee
with a pellet from a ball bearing gun
in a drive-by shooting in Swindon. The pellet caused a round
cut, bruising and swelling.
Evening Gazette,
23 October 2008
A man is on trial accused of
trying to kill another man in a drive-by shooting in Grangetown,
Middlesbrough, in August 2007. He denies charges of attempted
murder, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing a
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He was found not
guilty on all charges (BBC, 29 October 2008).
BBC,
23 October 2008
Two men have been jailed for
possessing firearms and ammunition. Paul Webster and Adrian Keeling
pleaded guilty to having two loaded pistols in a car outside a pub in
Derby. Both men were sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in
prison. In a separate case Ferrari Forrest-Clarke, 18, from
Allenton pleaded guilty to a drugs offence, possessing a firearm and
also possessing several types of ammunition. He will be sentenced
later.
BBC,
23 October 2008
A drug dealer has been found
guilty of a number of offences including shooting a man twice in the leg
over a drug debt in an alleyway in Handsworth Wood, West Midlands, in August 2007.
Andre Singh was also convicted of possessing a stun gun without a firearms
certificate, of wounding with intent and having cocaine with intent to
supply. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Herts and Essex
Observer,
22 October 2008
A 17-year-old bought himself
replica guns online using his parents'
credit card. Officers from the UK Border Agency at Stansted
Airport found two realistic "airsoft" rifles inside a consignment
labelled as plastic toys posted from Hong Kong. The weapons will be
destroyed. Enquiries are ongoing.
BBC, 22 October 2008
A 17-year-old was arrested
in Loughborough after several people were allegedly threatened
with a replica gun. A great
deal of distress was caused to members of the public.
The Star,
21 October 2008
Among items recovered by
police during an operation focusing on the movement of stolen scrap in
South Yorkshire were two air rifles
and a ball bearing gun.
Southern Daily Echo,
21 October 2008
Jason Fleet of Fareham,
Hampshire, who has been convicted of three specimen offences of
indecent assault, sexual assault on a child and sexual activity with a
child, had apparently threatened to shoot his victim in the face with a
ball bearing gun.
Northern Echo,
21 October 2008
An inquest jury has ruled that
a man who died after he was shot by his own gun was killed by accident.
The loaded double-barrelled shotgun discharged, hitting him in the neck
and head, killing him instantly. The accident occurred near
Frosterley, Weardale, in August 2007 (see
Incidents). It is believed he was
intending to shoot red grouse on moorland. It is possible that the
weapon was triggered by a buckle in his Wellington boot.
Manchester Evening News,
21 October 2008
Scott Charlton pointed an
air rifle at receptionists and patients
at a hospital in Rochdale, Lancashire, in December 2007 (see
January 2008 Incidents).
He has been given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of 618 days.
He claimed he was depressed and drunk.
Lancashire Evening Post,
21 October 2008
Two gunmen burst into a flat
in Ribbleton, Preston, and threatened a man with a handgun.
The victim was punched and kicked whilst his wife screamed at the men to
stop.
Daily Echo,
21 October 2008
A building society branch in
Westbourne, Bournemouth, was targeted by an armed robber. He
forced two men delivering cash to lie on the floor as he and two
accomplices fled with a quantity of cash. In a separate incident a
fast-food takeaway in Westbourne was targeted by an armed robber
who made off with a small amount of money.
Crawley Observer,
21 October 2008
A masked raider, armed with a
sawn-off shotgun, held staff at a bookmakers in Crawley, Sussex, at
gunpoint. He took an undisclosed sum of cash before fleeing on foot.
Border Counties
Advertiser,
21 October 2008
A teenager was struck on the
arm with what is believed to be an airgun
pellet as he cycled home in Oswestry, Shropshire. The shot
appears to have been fired from a car.
BBC, 21 October 2008
A 13-year-old boy was chased
by a man brandishing what police said may have been an
imitation gun in Ormesby,
Teesside. The boy escaped shaken but uninjured.
Northants Evening
Telegraph,
20 October 2008 *
A man apparently shot himself
in a hospital ward in Northampton. Police were called and
discovered the man had died of a gunshot wound. A firearm was
recovered from the scene. The man's son has appeared in court
accused of supplying a gun to his father. He is accused of
possession of a firearm, two counts of transferring a firearm and also
possession of ammunition and transferring that ammunition (BBC, 15
May 2009). Guy Button has pleaded guilty to six firearms offences
(See July 2009 Incidents).
Daily Echo, 20 October 2008
Further questions about the
priority given by Dorset police to airgun
incidents (see below) have been raised by a family after an incident at
their home in Bournemouth, Dorset. Shots from a pellet gun
killed a pigeon in the family's garden after a neighbour, who also
witnessed the incident, had his own window hit earlier. Officers
only attended the following morning.
Community News,
20 October 2008
Police are investigating six
armed robberies at various premises in Stockport, Greater
Manchester, over a period of 10 days. A similar method was used.
One of the offenders, who is armed with a gun, goes into the business and
commits the robbery a second man stands at the door. Both men are
described as teenagers who demand cash from staff and customers.
BBC, 20 October 2008
A man has been charged by
Greater Manchester Police with several firearms offences in
connection with one of the largest gun smuggling operations in the UK.
Asian News,
20 October 2008 *
A woman and a teenage boy
have been charged with possession of a firearm after they were arrested
in Levenshulme, Greater Manchester. Both have been given
custodial sentences after pleading guilty (see
February 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 19 October 2008
A man was in hospital and
four people in custody after armed police surrounded two houses in
Okehampton, Devon. A rifle was recovered.
Mid Devon Star,
18 October 2008
A man has been charged with
possession of cannabis, criminal damage to a car window and possession
of a loaded air weapon after an
airgun was allegedly fired in Uffculme, Devon.
Liverpool Echo,
18 October 2008
Liam O'Brien has been jailed
after a loaded pistol was discovered under his pillow at his father's
house in Broad Green, Merseyside. Months later his
fingerprints were also found on a sawn-off shotgun. He has been
jailed for five-and-a-half years after he admitted minding the guns.
Express & Star,
18 October 2008
Security guards were
threatened outside a building society branch in Kidderminster,
Worcestershire. They were challenged by three men carrying
firearms. The robbers grabbed an undisclosed sum of money.
Crawley Observer,
18 October 2008 *
Police were called to a
house in Ditton, Kent, following a report that a man had been
shot. He had received fatal injuries. A man has been
arrested in connection with an incident in 2006 during which a shot was
fired through the window of the victim's home. Police are
investigating whether the two incidents are linked (BBC, 26 March
2009).
BBC,
18 October 2008
Two men armed with a
sawn-off shotgun robbed a store in Ruskington, Lincolnshire.
They left with an undisclosed amount of money.
BBC,
18 October 2008
Two men are believed to have
been armed with a stun gun when they stole a car in Handsworth,
Birmingham. The car's owner was attacked when he stopped to use
his mobile phone.
Press Association,
17 October 2008
A man has been shot dead in
the street in Kennington, south London. He was pronounced
dead at the scene. Three men have been arrested in connection with
the shooting (BBC, 22 October 2008).
Manchester Evening News,
17 October 2008
A woman was watching TV at
her home in Stretford, Manchester, when shots from a
ball bearing gun were fired through her
window. One narrowly missed her partner. She claims that the
police were dismissive and would not come out as it was not a real gun.
Leamington Spa Courier,
17 October 2008
David Fellows has been
jailed for five years for firing a sawn-off shotgun in his caravan home
in Ryton, Warwickshire, before reloading it and hiding it under
his bed. He was already subject to a suspended prison sentence for
brandishing a Samurai sword at police. He claimed he had found the
weapon and intended to hand it in. He initially denied possessing
the firearm in February 2008 but later changed his plea.
Hounslow Chronicle,
17 October 2008 *
Nicholas Smith threatened
staff at over 20 bookmakers, including branches in Feltham and
Isleworth, west London, with a handgun. He has now been jailed
for at least six years after pleading guilty to eight robbery and
firearms offences, with another 14 still lying on file. Smith, who
admitted eight counts of possessing an
imitation firearm, has failed to have his sentence reduced on
appeal (Borehamwood & Elstree Times, 29 January 2010).
Hounslow Chronicle,
17 October 2008
Troublemakers have been
targeting Hounslow Heath golf club in west London. There
has been a campaign of vandalism and violence and one golfer has been
shot with an air rifle.
Evening Chronicle,
17 October 2008
Two men have been jailed
after attempting to rob a post office in Consett, County Durham,
whilst armed with an airgun and what
is believed to have been a knife. They fled when the postmaster
spotted them coming. Alan Palmer was sentenced to four years in
jail for the robbery, six months for possessing an imitation weapon and
six weeks for the breach. Paul Davison was given four years for
robbery and six months for carrying the airgun.
The Comet,
17 October 2008
Richard Scott has been
jailed for six years for possession of a firearm and 18 months for
affray, to run concurrently. He was cleared of attempted murder.
The trial followed the shooting of two men in Letchworth Garden City,
Hertfordshire, in August 2007 (see
Incidents).
Birmingham Mail,
17 October 2008 *
An eight-year-old boy has
been expelled from his primary school in Sheldon, Birmingham,
after showing off a replica handgun
to classmates. The gun was bought by his 11-year-old brother from
a market stall in Chelmsley Wood. The boy's mother has
asked Solihull Trading Standards to investigate but has been told that
it would not be treated as a police matter.
Birmingham Mail,
17 October 2008
Andell Butcher has been
jailed for eight years after being convicted of possession of a firearm.
He dropped a sawn-off shotgun and cartridges when he leapt from the rear
bedroom of his girlfriend's flat in Handsworth in January when
police raided it to look for a stolen puppy. His girlfriend,
Cassandra March, was also convicted of possession of a firearm and
jailed for five years.
Yorkshire Evening Post,
16 October 2008
Two masked men robbed a
filling station in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, at gunpoint.
They threatened a woman cashier whilst brandishing a silver handgun.
They stole money from the cash drawer and the woman's handbag.
Swindon Advertiser,
16 October 2008 *
Stacey Thompson of
Penhill, Swindon, has admitted having an imitation firearm with
intent to cause fear of violence. She had an
air pistol with intent to cause another
woman to fear unlawful violence in May 2008. She has been warned
to expect a prison sentence and was subsequently sent to prison for one
year (This is Wiltshire, 24 November 2008).
The Press,
16 October 2008
A jogger had a narrow escape
when he claims an air rifle pellet
missed him by inches as he crossed the path of a shooting range set up
on a public highway in Askham Richard, near York. He almost
tripped over a line of cans in the road and then saw a man pointing a
rifle directly at him. The man was stunned by the reaction of the
police who said they found a group of men with guns but in a field and
not on the public highway. He questions why the police did not
interview him and spoke only to the men with rifles.
Independent,
16 October 2008
Two men, Delphon Nicholas
and Trevor Dennie have been convicted of the murder of Andrew Wanoghu
who was fatally shot in Brockley, south London, in April 2006
(see Incidents).
Three other men were cleared of murder.
Daily Echo,
16 October 2008
Two 12-year-old girls were
shot at with an airgun while they
waited by the tennis courts at a school in Bournemouth, Dorset.
One of them was struck on the leg, the second girl was uninjured.
One parent has criticised the police, who delayed attending, for not
taking the incident more seriously.
Epping Forest, Waltham
Forest, Wanstead & Woodford Guardian,
15 October 2008
A court has been told that
three men raped women at gunpoint during a campaign of robberies in
brothels across east London. The case continues.
BBC, 15 October 2008
More than 400 shotguns and
rifles have been seized from a house in Headington, Oxfordshire.
A former firearms dealer has had his licence revoked. The police
received a tip-off that the owner of the house had more guns than he was
allowed to own. A man was held on suspicion of possession of a
prohibited weapon and released on police bail.
Northants Evening
Telegraph, 14 October 2008
Two 16-year-olds threatened
a staff member with an imitation firearm,
a black metallic pistol, during an off-licence robbery in Abington,
Northampton, in January 2008 (see
Incidents). They were pushed into
carrying out the raid by older offenders. They pleaded guilty to
robbery. The younger teenager, who produced the gun, was sentenced
to two years' detention, the other to 18 months' detention.
Bolton News,
14 October 2008
Armed raiders threatened to
shoot a man outside his own home in Heaton if he did not hand
over his car keys.
Birmingham Mail,
14 October 2008
A ten-year-old boy narrowly
escaped injury after being targeted by a gang of teenagers who shot him
in the head with an airgun outside
his family home in Bartley Green, Birmingham. The victim's
family is angry that the police let the attackers walk away after
issuing a caution and he has lodged an official complaint.
Lowestoft Journal,
13 October 2008
Two men have been shot with
air rifle pellets in Lowestoft,
Suffolk. One was hit on the wrist as he got out of his car.
The other victim went to his assistance and was struck on the elbow.
Both pellets had gone through clothing to cause their wounds.
Police have arrested a man in connection with the incidents and another
in which a 12-year-old boy was hurt (East Anglian Daily Times, 20
October 2008).
BBC, 13 October 2008 *
A gun was fired outside a
property in Bentley, Hampshire. The incident occurred five
hours after a domestic disturbance when three women know to the occupier
damaged property.
BBC, 12 October 2008
Armed police officers were
called to deal with a large gang of youths in the centre of Derby
after being told that one of the group was carrying a firearm.
Nothing was found.
Northants Evening
Telegraph, 11 October 2008
A 15-year-old boy was left
terrified after being threatened with a gun in the car park of a
Kettering supermarket. A man jumped from a car and waved what
the boy believes was a gun at him.
Liverpool Echo,
11 October 2008
Lee Farley, 20, has pleaded
guilty to three counts of wounding with intent, possession of a firearm
and possession of ammunition following a shooting in Huyton,
Merseyside, in May 2008 (see
Incidents). He shot his victim in the stomach with a
semi-automatic weapon in front of the man's family. His victim
needed treatment for life-threatening injuries. He was given an
indeterminate sentence and will serve no less than six years.
BBC,
11 October 2008
A man has been charged with
possession of a firearm after police seized a key fob gun during a stop
and search operation in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester. The
gun is capable of firing two .22 bullets at close range.
The News
(Portsmouth), 10 October 2008
*
Jason Lewis faces a lengthy
jail term for threatening a man with a gun and possessing a haul of
cocaine and amphetamines. He had confronted a man in a lay-by in
Gosport, Hampshire, in September 2007. He showed the man
the handle of a gun which was tucked into his trousers. Lewis
admitted threatening him with an airgun.
The judge, who took into account the fact that Lewis had spent 144 days
behind bars on remand, imposed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for
two years (The News, 8 January 2009).
Evening Star,
10 October 2008
Thomas Temple fired shots
from an air rifle and attacked his
partner during a drink-fuelled night of violence. He also
brandished a gun at a neighbour in April 2008. At a court in
Ipswich he admitted charges of common assault, affray and criminal
damage and will serve eight months in jail.
Burton Mail,
10 October 2008
A
ball-bearing gun has been fired through the lounge window of
a home in Kingsmead, Staffordshire. The window was damaged
but no one was hit.
BBC,
10 October 2008
Three youths robbed a pastor
and his two colleagues of £250 at gunpoint in New Cross, south
east London. Two youths later handed back the cash. The
pastor is an anti gun-crime activist. The robbery was not reported
to the police.
Liverpool Echo, 9 October 2008
Police officers found a haul
of bullets and shotgun cartridges in a street in Huyton,
Merseyside, which has been the scene of a spate of shootings in the past
12 months.
Liverpool Echo, 9 October 2008
In a third shooting in
Liverpool in the space of 26 hours a man was shot in the leg near a pub
in Everton. The victim was in a stable condition in
hospital. Police say they have no reason to believe that there any
links between this attack and those in Netherley and Fazakerley.
Birmingham Mail, 9 October 2008
A man is on trial accused of
being one of four people in a car from which a gun was fired at a police
officer in Aston, Birmingham. He denies charges of
attempted murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life
and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
West Yorkshire Police,
8 October 2008
Four men have been arrested
after a significant amount of drugs, cash and a firearm and ammunition
were seized by police from an address in the Barkerend area of
Bradford.
This is Nottingham,
8 October 2008
Three men threatened staff
at a building society branch in Ruddington, Nottingham, with a
gun and escaped with a sum of cash.
This is Nottingham,
8 October 2008
Police are investigating an
attempted armed robbery at a bookmakers in Carlton, Nottingham.
A man pointed a gun at staff but he and an accomplice fled empty-handed
after staff shut themselves behind a secure door and phoned police.
Reuters, 8 October 2008
Kanyanta Mulenga has been
found guilty of the murder of a man who was shot in the neck and leg
after an argument about smoking at a bar in Fulham, west London,
in July 2007 (see Incidents).
Two other men have been cleared of murder and a fourth man faces a
separate trial. Mulenga has been jailed for at least 28 years (Reuters,
9 October 2008).
Liverpool Echo,
8 October 2008
A man was shot in the leg in
a drive-by attack in Fazakerley, Liverpool. His injuries
are not thought to be life-threatening and he was being treated in
hospital.
BBC, 8 October 2008
A man is recovering in
hospital after being shot in Netherley, Liverpool. Local
residents reported hearing three loud bangs and found the victim with a
single gunshot wound to his foot. The injury is not
life-threatening.
Northampton Evening Telegraph, 7 October 2008
A 13-year-old pupil has been
expelled from a school in Kettering, Northamptonshire, after he
fired several shots from a ball bearing gun
around the classroom. The incident took place in September.
Manchester Evening News, 7 October 2008
Robbers tried to rip a
cashpoint out of a wall during a botched raid at a shop in Ancoats,
Greater Manchester. They ran into the shop and brandished a pistol
and ordered customers to leave. The store manager activated a
panic alarm and the men left empty handed.
Mail,
7 October 2008
A man was shot three times
with a gas-powered ball-bearing pistol
in a street in South Norwood, south London. It is
suggested he was shot because he was wearing an Obama T-shirt. A
piece of metal was removed from the victim's jaw.
London Informer, 7 October 2008
An armed robber stole more
than £5,000 of items from a business in West Kensington, west
London. He was holding a black bulky looking handgun.
Lancashire Evening Post, 7 October 2008
Paul Nowell was jailed for
20 months in June 2008 for terrifying police officers with an
air pistol when they knocked on his
door in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire. The police had been
responding to a disturbance between neighbours in March 2007.
Nowell had admitted possession of an imitation firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence during the incident which occurred in March 2007.
He has failed to win a reduction in his sentence.
BBC, 7 October 2008
A man was arrested after
someone was seen walking through the Cotham area of Bristol with
what is thought to have been a gun. A gun was being examined to
see whether it was a real or a replica firearm.
BBC, 7 October 2008
A cyclist was hit in the
face by ball-bearing gun pellets
fired from a car in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. He was not
seriously hurt.
Press Association, 6 October 2008
A second man has been shot
dead in London. Police found his body when they searched premises
near Brent Cross, north west London. He was pronounced dead
at the scene.
BBC, 5 October 2008 *
A man was shot dead inside
a nightclub in Bermondsey, south London. He was pronounced
dead at hospital. A murder inquiry has started. A man has
been arrested in connection with this and another fatal shooting in
East Dulwich in February 2009 (see
March 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 5 October 2008
Berkshire police believe
that two armed robberies on taxi drivers may be linked. In one
three men booked a taxi and were taken to a pub in Slough where
they threatened the driver with a gun, hit him in the face and stole
cash and other property. Two days later a driver who picked up
four men in Britwell was attacked and threatened with a pistol.
Sky News, 4 October 2008
A youth who was filmed by
friends as he walked out into a country road in High Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire, pointing a replica AK47 rifle
at oncoming cars has been tracked down by police. He
was arrested and the replica weapon seized.
Burnham-on-Sea.com, 4 October 2008
Police in Burnham-on-Sea,
Somerset, were investigating an incident after a teenage boy walking
outside a fish bar was shot in the shoulder by an
air rifle.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 3 October 2008
Andrew Riley threatened to
shoot a schoolboy with an airgun
after he thought youths were deliberately kicking a rugby ball at his
window in Moortown, Leeds. He shouted "I will kill you,
wait till I get you" and chased the three teenagers in his car. He
caught up with them at a shopping centre in Moor Allerton and threatened
one boy with the gun. He has been jailed for six months after he
admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and
common assault. A not guilty verdict was recorded on a charge of
attempted kidnap after no evidence was offered by the prosecution.
Southern Daily Echo, 3 October 2008
A 16-year-old student who
was found dead at home in Longstock, Hampshire, died of a shotgun
wound. The police have said that the death was not being treated
as suspicious and there was no investigation into any reports of
illegally held firearms.
BBC, 3 October 2008
A man is in hospital following
a shooting in Handsworth, Birmingham. His injuries were not
believed to be life-threatening. Another man has been arrested.
BBC, 3 October 2008
Four men have been convicted
over a series of armed robberies across southern England. Terence
Wallace, Adrian Johnson, Leroy Wilkinson and Victor Iniodu had all
denied conspiracy to rob. The gang's activities were eventually
stopped when gang leader Mark Nunes and a second man, Andrew Markland
were shot dead by armed police officers during an attempted robbery in
Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, in September 2007 (see
Incidents).
Nunes was holding a gun to a security guard's head at the time. A
total of 21 banks were targeted by the gang in Gloucester,
Swindon, Bristol, Bath, Colchester,
Tilehurst, Cherry Hinton, Oxford, Croydon,
Ipswich and Chandler's Ford. Three other men, Leroy
Hall, Leon McKenzie and Brian Henry pleaded guilty to being part of the
gang before the trial started. The Flying Squad firearms officers
will not be prosecuted over the deaths. See
August 2008 Incidents for additional
details.
This is Surrey Today, 2 October 2008
Armed riot police closed a
street in Banstead, Surrey, following reports of a female
brandishing a handgun in her flat. Police discovered what they
suspected to be two BB guns. A
16-year-old girl is helping them with their inquiries.
This is Derbyshire, 2 October 2008
Shane Barker fired an
imitation firearm, a copy of an Army
Colt revolver, through the window of a house in Derby in July
2008 (see Incidents),
terrifying the occupants. He was on licence from prison when he
committed the offence. He admitted having an imitation firearm and
causing people to fear unlawful violence would be used. His
three-and-a-half year sentence will run concurrently with the term he
was already serving for arson.
This is Cornwall, 2 October 2008
Scouts at a camp in
Devoran, Cornwall, were shot at repeatedly with what is thought to
have been an air rifle. Police
were called to the creek-side camp after Scout leaders began to fear for
the lives of the 22 girls and boys aged between 10 and 17. Two
people were spotted on adjacent mudflats lying in prone position facing
the scouts.
South London Press, 2 October 2008 *
A reward has been put up in
the hunt for two robbers who raided a petrol station in Finchley,
north London. The two men were armed with a gun and a
stun gun.
Rye & Battle Observer, 2 October 2008
A farmer from
Hurstpierpoint, Surrey, has died from shotgun injuries. His
body was found in a field. Police say they have ruled out any
third party involvement.
Rugby Advertiser, 2 October 2008
Customers and shop workers
wrestled a robber to the ground during an armed raid in Bilton,
Rugby. He was armed with a pistol-shaped
BB gun. A 15-year-old has been charged in connection
with the robbery.
Mid Devon Star, 2 October 2008
A man was arrested in
Tavistock, Devon, after being hit by a police stun gun.
Concerns had been raised by staff of a psychiatric unit when the man
stormed off in a violent state and was believed to be in possession of a
.22 air rifle.
Evening Courier, 2 October 2008
David Marr and his
girlfriend were arrested by armed police after brandishing an
airgun on a canal towpath in Copley,
West Yorkshire. The gun was unloaded but the couple had a bag of
ball bearing ammunition in their possession. Marr pleaded guilty
to possessing an unloaded air weapon and was given a 12-month
conditional discharge. Charges against his girlfriend were
withdrawn. The gun and ball-bearings were destroyed.
Derbyshire Times, 2 October 2008
Four 12 bore shotguns were
stolen from a gun cabinet during a burglary on a home in Holmewood,
Derbyshire. Cartridges were also taken. The owners were
unable to say whether any other items were stolen. The raid took
place on the same night thieves tried to steal similar weapons from a
house on a neighbouring street where they failed to get into a gun safe.
Bolton News, 2 October 2008 *
Paul Woodcock raided the
office of a window cleaning company, two bookmakers and a post office in
Bolton in December 2007 and January 2008. He has been found
guilty of five counts of robbery and four firearms offences. The
robberies were carried out with Adrian Whittle who pleaded guilty to one
robbery charge and possession of a firearm at an earlier hearing.
Imitation guns were used in the
robberies. Woodcock received a 12 year sentence and later failed
to have his convictions quashed (Bolton News, 1 May 2010).
Bridlington Free Press, 2 October 2008
James Hicks walked into a
charity shop in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, with an
imitation pistol in June 2007 and told
staff to get customers outside. He then appeared unwell and after
being a stool to sit on he got up and left. He later called the
police who went to his home and found two handguns, a lock knife and a
plastic silencer. He has since pleaded guilty to charges involving
the possession of a firearm and a lock knife. He has been treated
for a personality disorder which had left him with psychopathic
tendencies. He has been returned to a secure hospital and
sentencing later.
Birmingham Mail, 2 October 2008
A man suffered a broken leg
when he was shot in a betting shop in Ladywood, Birmingham.
It is believed a lone gunman walked in and fired two shots at him.
BBC, 2 October 2008
Three men have been found
guilty of shooting dead another man who was ambushed as he walked home
from a pub in Hartcliffe, Bristol, in December 2008 (see
Incidents).
Michael Hodge, Mark Starr and Nathan Sargent were all convicted of
murder. Sargent told the court that he raised the .22 calibre
bolt-action rifle towards the victim and claimed that the gun went off
during a struggle. A fourth man also faces a murder charge but has
been ruled unfit to stand trial.
BBC, 2 October 2008
Wayne Bryan has admitted
accidentally shooting a 16-year-old girl in the head at a party in
Gorton, Manchester, in June 2008 (see
Incidents). He admitted five
charges including possession of a firearm, possession of an
imitation
firearm and two counts of possession of ammunition. He told the
court he was dancing with the gun, which he said he found in a bag at
the side of a chair at the victim's house, when it went off. The
girl was in a coma for 10 days but has recently been discharged from
hospital. Bryan has been jailed for eight years (BBC, 24
October 2008).
Runcorn & Widnes World, 1 October 2008
A bus driver was held up at
gun point by a gang of hooded men. He had just parked up in
Runcorn, Cheshire, when he was approached by four to six men, one of
whom was carrying a black handgun and another a knife. The gang
took his overnight takings.
The Journal, 1 October 2008
A couple were robbed in
their home in Stanley, County Durham, by two men, one with a gun
and one with a knife. The couple were threatened and punched
before the men made off with some cash. A 16-year-old youth has
been arrested (The Journal, 8 October 2008).
Lancashire Telegraph, 30 September 2008
A gang of four men
threatened the resident of a house in Darwen, Lancashire, and
then fired a gun shot in the street. Police are investigating
whether the shooting was gang motivated. Neither the gun nor a
bullet has been recovered.
BBC, 30 September 2008
A masked gang robbed
security guards delivering money to cash machines in Boston,
Lincolnshire. One guard was kicked in the face and an object which
may have been a gun was seen during the raid. Four cases of money
were taken.
Wirral Globe, 29 September 2008
A man was shot in the leg in
Birkenhead in another 'targeted shooting' in Merseyside. He
was taken to hospital where his condition is not thought to be life
threatening.
News Shopper, 29 September 2008
Rohan Smith, Stephen Noel,
Darren Welch and Lloyd Brook all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and
possession of a firearm after an attempted armed robbery at a jewellery
shop in Oxted, Surrey, in April 2008. They threatened
workers with a handgun but were thwarted by police officers at the
scene. Noel was given six years for conspiracy to rob, with three
years for possession of a firearm to run concurrently, the others all
received 10 year and four year sentences to run concurrently.
Kent Online, 29 September 2008
Armed police went to a
property in Chatham, Kent, after reports that a man at the house
had been spotted with a firearm.
BBC, 29 September 2008
A man has been taken to
hospital with serious head injuries after a shooting in Wickham
Skieth, Suffolk. A man from the village has been arrested on
suspicion of offences under the Firearms Act.
BBC, 29 September 2008 *
Three people, two men and a
woman, were taken to hospital following a shooting at a club in
Bilston, West Midlands. One man was released from hospital
after treatment, the other two victims are in a stable condition.
Two men, one aged 18, are on trial charged with possession of a firearm
with intent to endanger life, possession of a firearm or imitation
firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence and violent disorder (see
October 2009 Incidents).
Lancashire Evening Post, 27 September 2008
A car window was targeted in
a suspected shooting incident at a builders' merchants in Leyland,
Lancashire. It appears that an air rifle
had been fired and caused the window to shatter.
BBC, 27 September 2008
A man was shot in the leg in
what police say was a "targeted" shooting in Croxteth, Liverpool.
He was taken to hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life
threatening.
BBC, 27 September 2008
Two security van guards were
threatened by a man with a gun at a supermarket in Windsor,
Berkshire. He forced them to hand over a cashbox and was driven
off in a waiting car. No-one was injured.
BBC, 27 September 2008
A 19-year-old was being
treated in hospital for a groin wound after a shooting at a
nightclub in Stokes Croft, Bristol.
Gazette (Blackpool), 26 September 2008
There have been two
airgun
attacks on seafront trams in Fleetwood, Lancashire, in less than
a week. In the latest a passenger was showered with broken glass
and many passengers were left "cowering in fear". Two days earlier
another tram had been targeted and a door was damaged. This
follows two earlier attacks on trams in Rossall in July (see
Incidents).
BBC, 26 September 2008 *
Brett Dolan, 18, has been
jailed for five years after police found a sawn off shotgun during a
search at his home in South Shields, Tyneside, in June 2008.
The weapon was hidden under his bed. The sentence was the
mandatory minimum for possession of a prohibited weapon and the judge
said he could not find in this case the type of exceptional
circumstances required to stray from imposing the minimum term (Northern
Echo, 26 September 2008). However, the sentence was reduced to
two years on appeal after the case was ruled to be "exceptional" (Shields
Gazette, 31 January 2009).
BBC, 26 September 2008
An SA80 assault rifle was
lost during an army training exercise on Dartmoor, Devon. A
radio was also missing. A military police investigation is under
way.
Press Association, 26 September 2008
A man was arrested after a
police car was blasted with a shotgun as officers followed a stolen
vehicle in Salford, Greater Manchester. The pursuit ended
with a gunman forcing his way into a house where he was arrested on
suspicion of attempted murder. A shotgun was recovered.
Evening Telegraph (Derby), 25 September 2008
A man was arrested after
primary school pupils were shown a gun whilst they were visiting
Willington Marina, Derbyshire. He was arrested on suspicion of
possession of an air rifle, but was
released without charge after being questioned by police.
Evening Standard, 25 September 2008 *
A patient held up an
ambulance at gunpoint and threatened to kill its crew before taking the
vehicle and crashing it into five cars. He pulled an
imitation handgun on the crew as they
were transferring him from his home in Dagenham, east London, to
hospital in Romford. The problem may have been sparked by the
patient's unhappiness at the choice of hospital. A man has
admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of
violence and aggravated vehicle taking and given a 3 year jail sentence
(see
January 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 25 September 2008
A man has been seriously
injured in a shooting in Stockport, Greater Manchester. He
needed emergency treatment for gunshot wounds to his chest and leg and
was described as being in a poorly condition in hospital. A man has been
arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder (BBC, 29
September 2008).
BBC, 25 September 2008
Train services were
disrupted as police investigated a firearms incident near Rugby
station, Warwickshire. "Heavy duty ball
bearings" which had the potential to cause serious or fatal
injury were fired at a lorry which was damaged. No-one was hurt in
the incident, but trains were suspended for more than three hours.
Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 24 September 2008
A man wanted by police in
Northamptonshire for the past nine years has been sentenced in his
absence. Erich Ryan failed to turn up at court in December 1999 to
be sentenced for theft and possession of an
airgun. He is now subject to a 12-month conditional
discharge.
Horncastle News, 24 September 2008
Two guns have been stolen
during a raid on a gun shop in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.
The weapons taken were Pietta 44 calibre and Eurolion (a
Colt 45 replica) revolvers. The guns were removed from
a safe, along with some cash. Around 35 tubs and tubes containing
400 ball-bearing (BB) pellets were
also stolen along with around 100 CO2
cylinders suitable for air pistols.
Express & Star, 24 September 2008
A court has heard that a
loaded 9 mm pistol was among items discovered at a house in Bushbury,
Wolverhampton, being used as the headquarters of a heroin and cocaine
dealing enterprise. The gun was found during a raid in July 2007.
One man who lived at the house denies two counts of possessing drugs
with intent to supply, a second man has pleaded guilty to the same
charges, but pleads guilty to converting criminal property. His
grandmother denies possession of criminal property. The two men
deny possession of a firearm, ammunition and criminal property, relating
to cash that was found. The trial continues.
Evening Chronicle, 24 September 2008
A teenage girl is recovering
after she was shot in the head by an airgun
shooter while playing on a trampoline in her back garden in Morpeth,
Northumberland. A man has been charged with assault and a woman
with incitement to unlawfully wound.
BBC, 24 September 2008
A man has been taken to
hospital after a shooting in Harehills, Leeds. The victim
is understood to have been shot in the chest but his injuries are not
thought to be life-threatening.
Evening Courier, 23 September 2008
A man threatened a woman
shop worker with a gun during an armed robbery in Buttershaw,
West Yorkshire. He is believed to have been carrying a silver
handgun. The suspect left empty-handed after she woman and a
colleague refused to hand over any money.
BBC, 23 September 2008 *
Graham Calvert of
Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, has admitted illegally possessing
a handgun and possessing cocaine. He has been jailed for two years
(BBC, 21 October 2008).
Weston & Somerset Mercury, 22 September 2008
Two men were shot with
pellets from an air rifle at a
friend's birthday party at a social club in Weston-super-Mare.
Both were treated at the scene but agree they were lucky to escape with
superficial injuries and that none of the 20 children present were shot.
About seven pellets were found on the floor.
Telegraph, 22 September 2008
Michael Diamantis pulled a
handgun on his 17-year-old victim and shot him in the stomach when a
chance meeting turned into a bitter row in Tottenham, north
London, in August 2007 (see
Incidents). The bullet passed through the victim's arm,
shredded his spleen and he was only saved and an emergency operation to
remove the damaged organ. Diamantis was caught after people at the
mosque to which he escaped were concerned about his agitated manner.
He admitted grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a firearm
and possession of ammunition and was jailed for a total of ten years.
His girlfriend Monica Conceicao was given a suspended jail sentence
after hiding the gun under a bed.
BBC, 22 September 2008 *
A teenager was shot in the
eye at close range with an airgun in
Leyland, Lancashire. He remains in a stable condition in
hospital. A 20-year-old is due to appear in court. He has
been charged with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life,
wounding and offering to supply drugs. The victim has had to
undergo risky surgery to remove the pellet but may still lose his eye in
the future (Lancashire Evening Post, 4 October 2008). A man
has been jailed for five years (see
July 2009 Incidents).
The Argus (Brighton), 22 September 2008
A man preparing to hang
himself was arrested after he raised a .22 air
rifle when officers rushed to his house in Eastbourne,
Sussex, having been told he intended to kill himself. He shouted
at them to 'Get out of my house' before appearing with the gun.
John Potter has been convicted of having a firearm with intent to cause
a police officer to believe unlawful violence would be used against him
and has been warned he faces a jail sentence (Bexhill-on-Sea Observer,
30 September 2008).
BBC, 21 September 2008 *
A man has died in hospital
and his wife was left with gunshot wounds following a double shooting at
their home in Porth Kea, Cornwall. A man, believed to be
the former boyfriend of the couple's daughter, has been arrested and
taken to hospital with self-inflicted injuries, apparently after
shooting himself with a .22 rifle (Times, 22 September 2008). A firearm believed
to have been used in the shootings has been recovered. It has been
revealed that the suspect is a former RAF serviceman who had been sacked
from the family business. The weapon used was apparently a
high-velocity hunting rifle (Mail, 23 September 2008). A
man has given a minimum 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to
murder (see July 2009
Incidents).
Northern Echo, 20 September 2008
Steven Ferguson terrified an
ex-girlfriend and twice fired an air weapon at her new boyfriend.
He entered her home in Ferryhill, County Durham, in May 2008, and
refused to leave. He then picked up a .22
air rifle he had left near the door and fired a pellet into
her boyfriend's leg and then again as she was phoning the police.
Further shots were fired by Ferguson. He admitted two counts of
possessing a firearm with intent to cause a fear of violence and one of
possessing a firearm when prohibited. He has been jailed for three
years and the weapon, which he had been using to shoot stones, must be
forfeited and destroyed.
This is Wiltshire, 19 September 2008
Adam Salsbury, 19, armed
himself with his gas-powered air pistol
and shot a man after a drunken row over a girl. He sent text
messages telling his friend 'You're dead' and burst into his friend's
home in Calne, Wiltshire, and started firing the gun. He
shot a man in the chest and was still shooting as he left the scene.
The incident took place on New Year's Day. Salsbury pleaded guilty
to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, common
assault, actual bodily harm and criminal damage. He has been
jailed for 18 months.
This is South Devon, 19 September 2008
A shotgun was among items
seized by police during a morning raid on caravans and land in
Bickington, Devon. The raid was prompted by intelligence
indicating stolen goods may have been kept there. A man was being
question by officers after being arrested on suspicion of unlawful
possession of a firearm.
Newbury Weekly News, 19 September 2008
When three men were
approached by a security guard after he spotted them trespassing on
private land in Tadley, Hampshire, one of them threatened him
with a handgun. Detectives have released e-fit images of men they
would like to speak to.
BBC, 19 September 2008 *
A man has been arrested in
connection with an incident in St Ann's, Nottingham, in which a
firearm was reported to have been discharged. There were no
reports that anyone was injured. A man later found with a gun has
pleaded guilty to possession of a gun and ammunition without a
certificate (see February
2008 Incidents).
BBC, 19 September 2008
A man was attacked with a
stun gun during a robbery outside a pub in Kings Langley,
Hertfordshire, when his car and cash were stolen by a man who got into
the passenger seat.
BBC, 19 September 2008
Forty people have been
arrested in Knowsley, Merseyside, as part of a crackdown on gun
crime, violence and anti-social behaviour.
Lancashire Evening Post, 18 September 2008
Two teenagers have been
attacked in a suspected gunpoint robbery in Deepdale, Preston.
Police believe the same men could be responsible for various incidents
in the area in recent weeks. During the incident one victim was
shown a black object inside one of the robbers' jacket which he believed
to be a gun.
BBC, 18 September 2008
Two people, a man and a
woman, have been arrested on suspicion of firearms and drugs offences
after a police search of a property in Bardfield Saling, Essex.
A number of firearms were found.
This is Derbyshire, 17 September 2008
An 11-year-old boy suffered
minor injuries when he was hit in the chest by pellets from a
BB gun in a street in Alvaston,
Derbyshire. The gun was seized and a 14-year-old boy was arrested
and then released on police bail.
Swindon Advertiser, 17 September 2008
Mark Parker has had his
appeal against the length of his 5-year jail sentence dismissed.
He was sentenced after admitting possessing a prohibited weapon which he
claimed to have acquired to 'spite his ex-wife and to assert his
new-found independence'. Parker, an airman from RAF Lyneham,
Wiltshire, had bought a 12-bore shotgun and cartridges as a 'trophy' following a
our of duty in Iraq.
Royston Crow, 17 September 2008
An inquest has opened into
the death of a man who died following a gunshot wound to the head.
He was found at his home in Arrington, Cambridgeshire.
BBC, 17 September 2008
Three masked men armed with
a shotgun and a lump hammer raided and garage and threatened staff in
West Timperley, Greater Manchester. They intimidated staff and
security guards who were collecting cash before stealing cigarettes.
This is Wiltshire, 16 September 2008
Kevin Major, who collects
airguns and crossbows, trashed his house in Penhill,
Swindon, and assaulted his wife, and was also accused of pointing an
air rifle at a police woman in January 2008 (see
Incidents).
He apparently smashed the windscreen of a police patrol car with the
barrel of the gun. He admitted three counts of criminal damage but denied possessing a
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and common assault on his
wife. The jury found him not guilty of the firearm charge but
convicted him of common assault (Swindon Advertiser, 18 September
2008).
This is Nottingham, 16 September 2008
John Tattersall from
Kirkby-in-Ashfield has been jailed for a total of 22 years for
arson, firearm and drugs supply charges, the sentences to run
concurrently. He surrendered to police in February 2008. All
the component parts of a .22 rifle, with the butt, barrel and stock sawn
off, a sawn-off shotgun and a substantial amount of ammunition were
found at his home.
This is Exeter, 16 September 2008
A man who smuggled an
imitation pistol into the country has been fined £500 for brandishing it
during a late-night street scuffle in Newton Abbot, Devon (see Incidents).
The recorder agreed with his claim that he had used the weapon in
defence of himself or his girlfriend. Nikolajus Cerenievas brought
the 9mm self-loading blank-firing pistol in his case from Russia.
See August 2008 Incidents.
Telegraph & Argus, 16 September 2008
David Pringle, 19, has been
given a four-month home curfew following a late-night gun "prank" at a
campsite in Carleton, North Yorkshire, in June 2008. He
dressed up in combat-style clothing and was carrying a friend's .22
air rifle when he confronted another
young man, pointing the gun at him and swearing at him numerous times.
The complainant was terrified.
Newham Recorder, 16 September 2008
Mohammed Janab has been
jailed for six years after chasing another man out of a petrol station
forecourt in Forest Gate, east London, brandishing a sawn-off
shotgun. The incident followed a fight in April 2008. Janab
was convicted after pleading not guilty. Ismail Nazir who was with
him at the time pleaded guilty to possession of a shotgun and was
jailed for five years.
Hemel Today, 16 September 2008
A security guard has been
left fighting for his life after being shot during an armed raid at a
supermarket in Tring, Hertfordshire. A shopper who tried to
intervene was also shot. He is being treated in hospital and his
injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
BBC, 16 September 2008
Three armed raiders forced a
security van guard to lie on the floor while another pointed a gun at
his colleague's head during a raid at a building society branch in
Andover, Hampshire. The men snatched a cash box. The
guards were not harmed or injured but were shaken by the incident.
BBC, 16 September 2008
Armed robbers attacked a man
with a stun gun after they forced their way into his home in
Prestwich, Manchester. They also used CS spray. The two
teenage robbers stole two computers, a phone and cash in the raid.
BBC, 16 September 2008 *
Two men, including a former
Metropolitan Police officer, have been charged over a robbery at a
betting shop in Ilford, east London. A staff member was
threatened with a gun. Both men have pleaded guilty (see
August 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 16 September 2008
A man has been arrested
following a shooting at a pub in Chapel House, Newcastle, a few
days earlier. The victim was treated for a gunshot wound to the
lower stomach and is recovering well.
West Sussex Gazette, 15 September 2008
*
The body of the landlord of a
pub in Fernhurst, Sussex, was discovered in a room at the pub
when staff arrived to open the pub. It appears he had taken his
own life using a shotgun. An inquest heard that the man had killed
himself after becoming depressed by mounting debts and the strain of
running the business (Wales Online, 17 December 2008).
This is Wiltshire, 15 September 2008
Lewis Sanders, 18,
brandished a ball bearing gun
fashioned like an M16 assault rifle at a neighbour in Calne in
June 2008. He pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent
to cause fear of violence. He has been jailed for nine months (Gazette
& Herald, 13 October 2008).
BBC, 15 September 2008
A man has been charged with
having an imitation firearm with
intent to commit an offence and with possession of an imitation firearm
with intent to cause fear of violence after a teenager was threatened
with a handgun in Chalvey, Berkshire, in July.
Sunday Express, 14 September 2008
Cecil Stephens carried out a
raid at a post office in North Newbald, East Yorkshire, whilst on
day release from a semi-open prison in December 2007. He
bludgeoned the postmaster but left empty handed. He has been found
guilty of attempted robbery and possessing an
imitation firearm. His girlfriend Doreen Cramman was
found guilty of attempted robbery as his getaway driver. Stephens
has been jailed for at least six years for attempted robbery (Mirror,
18 October 2008).
The Journal, 14 September 2008
A teenager was threatened
and had a .22 calibre air rifle
thrust into his face when he was robbed for a portion of chip in
Ouston, Country Durham.
The Star, 13 September 2008
A masked man armed with a
shotgun burst into a bookmakers in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and
demanded cash. He got away with just over £100.
Bolton News, 13 September 2008 *
Anthony Horrocks, 20, has
been found guilty of two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm and
three counts of possessing ammunition without the correct authority.
The guns were found during a raid on a house in Halliwell,
Bolton, where he was living. The police were alerted to him after
video footage was uploaded to his YouTube site in which he claimed
he filmed himself loading a handgun. He has been sentenced to five
years in a young offenders institute (Fleetwood Weekly News, 27
November 2008).
BBC, 13 September 2008
A man has been arrested on
suspicion of attempted murder after another man was shot in the leg in
Tipton, West Midlands. The victim was taken to hospital
where his condition was described as stable.
Newbury Today, 12 September 2008
A loaded gun and more than
£40,000 in cash was found by police in a raid on an illegal waste
operator in Aldermaston, Berkshire. Four men were arrested,
two of whom have been charged with firearms offences.
BBC, 12 September 2008
Two men armed with a small
handgun stole cash boxes after threatening a security guard at a shop in
Rusthall, Kent. No-one was injured.
BBC, 12 September 2008
A man was threatened with a
shotgun during a carjacking in Norris Green, Liverpool. He
was driving a van when a man flagged him down and then threatened him.
Five men surrounded the driver's side and attacked him. The victim
suffered minor injuries.
Gazette, 11 September 2008
Jonathan Ewing, who fired an
airgun at two brothers in
Colchester, Essex, in August 2007, has been jailed for six years.
One victim was shot at 34 times and still has pellets in his head.
His younger brother who was aged 13 was also shot in the head, and both
victims were pistol-whipped. Ewing had gone to their house to
collect a debt which was nothing to do with the brothers and had been
taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.
BBC, 11 September 2008
A man was arrested under the
Firearms Act after a three-hour siege in Liskeard, Cornwall.
Police were called after reports of a man with a knife and a handgun
threatening to harm himself.
BBC, 11 September 2008
Two self-loading pistols
were recovered from a property in Moss Side, Manchester, when
police executed a search warrant. Two women and a man were
arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm.
This is South Devon, 10 September 2008
A window of a cafe on
Paignton Pier has been peppered with seven shots, possibly from a
ball bearing gun.
Southwark News,
9 September 2008
Two teenagers, both aged 17,
who mugged three people at gunpoint in Greenland Quay, south-east
London, in September 2007 have been given sentences of seven years
(after pleading guilty to robbery and possessing a firearm) and four
years (after pleading guilty to robbery and a possession of a prohibited
weapon). They pointed a converted Brocock revolver loaded with
live ammunition at the chest of one of the victims before stealing a
small sports bag and a mobile phone.
Loughborough News,
9 September 2008
A major investigation has
been launched by police after a firearm was discharged in Wigston
Fields, Leicester. A number of shots were fired following an
altercation between the residents of a house and a number of people who
had arrived at the address. A number of cartridges have been
recovered. Four people have been arrested (BBC, 9 September
2008).
Chad (Mansfield),
9 September 2008
Damage estimated at £1000
was caused when an airgun was fired
at street lights in Meden Vale, Nottinghamshire.
BBC,
9 September 2008 *
Staff at a shop in
Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, were threatened with a gun and an
axe during an armed robbery. Two men ordered them to get on the
floor and stole cash and cigarettes. Two men have been arrested in
connection with the robbery (BBC, 24 February 2009).
BBC,
9 September 2008
An elderly woman has been
robbed at gunpoint by two men as she was walking along a street in
Norris Green, Liverpool. One man threatened her with what is
believed to be a handgun and grabbed at her handbag, knocking her to the
ground.
Guardian (Epping Forest, Waltham Forest, Wanstead & Woodford),
8 September 2008
A doorman at a nightclub in
South Woodford (north-east London) suffered a bullet wound to the
leg when a gunman opened fire on him. He had been approached by
two men, aged between 18 and 20, with scarves and hoods.
BBC, 8 September 2008
Two men sparked an armed
response in Southend, Essex, when they were seen carrying guns
and dressed in dark clothing as they were entering an office block.
Worried members of the public dialled 999 and police surrounded the
building. The men who were armed with
imitation guns were involved in an "organised activity", part
of a team-building exercise. They were "offered suitable words of
advice" by police.
Evening Star, 7 September 2008
A diver found a sawn-off
shotgun while he was helping to clear rubbish from the River Gipping in
Ipswich. The gun was discovered in a rusty condition in
some mud.
Worcester News, 6 September 2008
Patrick Gaffiero from
Headley Heath, Worcestershire, has been given an eight-month
suspended prison sentence for keeping a pump-action shotgun. He
had admitted keeping the gun without a licence and possessing a stun
gun. He has been sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work and made
the subject of a two-year supervision requirement.
Liverpool Echo, 6 September 2008
Five people were arrested in
police raids after a number of incidents across Knowsley.
In two of the incidents a shot was fired through the windscreen of a
taxi and two men on a motorcycle opened fire into the air.
Burnham-On-Sea.com, 6 September 2008
An
airgun pellet was fired through a window at a store in
Burnham-On-Sea, Somerset. The supermarket have played it down saying
it was a very minor incident.
BBC, 6 September 2008
A man has been taken to
hospital after he was shot in the back in Newtown, Birmingham.
His condition was described as serious but not life threatening.
This is Croydon, 5 September 2008
A man has described how he
escaped with his life after being shot in the head at his home in
Addiscombe, south London, last month. The bullet ricocheted
off his skull when he ducked as one of two attackers pulled the trigger
on the gun.
Lynn News, 5 September 2008
Tom Smith was released by
police after driving at pedestrians, being involved in a high-speed
chase and ranting about terrorists in January 2008, but the next day he
forced a woman out of her car in Bridgham, Norfolk, by poking an
air rifle through the window.
He got into the car and accelerated it towards her. The victim
still suffers from the effects of the ordeal. Smith, who was
described as delusional, has now been jailed for two years.
Norwich Evening News, 5 September 2008
In the latest of a spate of
airgun shootings in the Norwich area a bus was shot at with what is
believed to have been an airgun
while travelling along the Acle straight. Although the bus
window did not smash, there were two small holes in it and two pellets
were found in the vehicle.
Daily Mail, 5 September 2008
A toddler was in hospital
after being shot in the head with an air rifle by his father in
Hayes,
west London. The 2-year-old boy is believed to have been hit while
playing in the family's garden as he ran out in front of his father, who
was shooting targets. A man has been arrested on suspicion of
causing actual bodily harm. The boy was in a 'stable but non-life
threatening' condition.
Evening Courier, 4 September 2008 *
Three men have been arrested
after brandishing a sawn-off shotgun outside a pub in Elland,
West Yorkshire. They were arrested on suspicion of possessing a
firearm. Police were unable to confirm if the gun was used at this
stage. Three men have been jailed for their involvement in the
incident (see April 2009
Incidents).
Echo (Essex), 4 September 2008
Four residents of
Westcliff were robbed at gunpoint during a series of crimes.
Tobacco was taken from one victim and a suitcase full of women's
handbags from another. A teenager has been arrested on suspicion
of a public order offence and robbery.
BBC, 4 September 2008
A police firearms officer
left a gun in the toilets of a coffee shop in central London.
It was found by a member of the public. The female officer
concerned has now been removed from operational duties.
This is Nottingham, 3 September 2008
Makan Martin Dayll has lost
his bid to get a reduction in his ten-year sentence for possessing a
gun. He was convicted of possessing a revolver and ammunition in
February 2008 after being stopped by armed police in The Meadows,
Nottingham, in August 2007 and found to have a loaded .45 calibre
revolver stashed in a bin liner.
Telegraph, 3 September 2008
A group of men are accused
of holding two other men hostage at an address in Thamesmead,
south east London, and demanding a ransom of £75,000 after they abducted
them at gunpoint from a sports store in West London and bundled
them into a car. The victims were kept in a car boot for six days
before being rescued by police.
Press Association, 3 September 2008
Dwayne Dinnall was caught as
he tried to leave Dagenham Heathway station, east London, in June
(see Incidents)
with a gas-powered gun and a seven-inch kitchen knife in his bag.
He had previous convictions for possession of guns and knives and
pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm. He has been jailed for
five years.
Lancashire Telegraph, 3 September 2008
Police found a loaded
shotgun in the front garden of a house in Chorley, Lancashire,
after an anonymous tip-off. They arrested a man and a woman, who lived
at the house, and another man, but were all released on bail pending
examination of the weapon.
Lancashire Telegraph, 3 September 2008
A man who allegedly
brandished a handgun after a late night party in Waterfoot,
Lancashire, is being sought by police. Police are unsure whether
the gun was real or not. No-one was injured but a number of
vehicles and a house window were broken, although no shots were fired.
Bromsgrove Standard, 3 September 2008
Daniel Simon was one of
three men who burst into a home in Frankley, Birmingham, in
January 2008, threatened a family with a sawn-off shotgun and demanded
cash. He was convicted of aggravated burglary for which he was
given nine years in jail, and possession of an
imitation firearm for which he was given a six-year term to
run concurrently. The robbers had escaped with valuable items
including a flat screen TV.
Birmingham Mail, 3 September 2008
Police recovered a loaded
pistol from a house in Handsworth, Birmingham. A stun gun
was also found. A man was arrested and taken into custody.
Wirral Globe, 2 September 2008
Police recovered a
single-barrelled shotgun during a search of a house in Birkenhead.
A woman and four men have been arrested on suspicion of firearms
offences.
Telegraph & Argus, 2 September 2008
A shopkeeper fired a
ball bearing gun at a boy as the
youngster ran off with a chocolate bar from the shop in Keighley,
West Yorkshire. He pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily
harm and was given a conditional discharge for 12 months, fined £250 and
order to pay £100 compensation to his victim.
London Informer, 2 September 2008
A man was robbed at gunpoint
in Earl's Court, west London, on his way to a takeaway. The
robber asked for money and the victim's phone.
Liverpool Echo, 2 September 2008
Armed police surrounded the
home of a man in his 80s in Stockbridge Village, Liverpool, for
five hours after reports that a gunman was inside. An
imitation gun was recovered. It
is believed that the gunman had fled the property before police arrived.
BBC, 2 September 2008 *
Detectives investigating
three deaths at a burnt out house in Maesbrook, Shropshire, (see
August 2008 Incidents)
have now said that they believe that his wife and daughter were killed
by Christopher Foster who then killed himself. His wife is known
to have died from a gunshot wound to the head and his legally-owned
rifle was found close the remains of his and his wife's body. CCTV has
revealed a man "clearly believed to be Foster" walking around with what
appears to be a rifle in his hands. He was seen to shoot out two
of the tyres of a horsebox used to block the main gates to the premises.
Previous reports described Foster as a weekly regular at Shropshire Clay
Pigeon Shooting Association who took up country pursuits such as
shooting (BBC, 28 August 2008). A coroner has recorded that
Christopher Foster killed his wife and daughter before killing himself
(see April 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 2 September 2008
A man has died four weeks
after being found with a gunshot wound following a drive-by shooting in
Ladywood Middleway, Birmingham (see
August 2008 Incidents).
This is Nottingham, 1 September 2008 *
A man armed with a handgun
forced staff at a bookmakers in Heanor to hand over cash.
He was armed with an imitation handgun
and has now been jailed for nine years (see
December 2008 Incidents).
Bromsgrove Standard, 1 September 2008
A teenager suffered wounds
to his back and bottom after being shot with an
air rifle or
BB gun in Wythall, Worcestershire. The 14-year-old was
targeted by two other boys as he was walking in the street.
BBC, 1 September 2008
Nineteen-year-old Joel
Johnson has admitted possessing a firearm and causing grievous bodily
harm with intent for firing at a police officer during an operation in
New Cross, south-east London, in December 2007 (see
Incidents).
The officer sustained an injury to his hand. He was ordered to
serve a minimum term of eight years.
Sunday Mercury,
31 August 2008
A man who was shot in the arm
is recovering in hospital after being attacked in Small Heath,
Birmingham.
BBC, 31 August 2008 *
Post-mortem tests on one of
two bodies found at a burnt-out home in Maesbrook, Shropshire, have
revealed that the female victim was shot in the head. A rifle,
identified as being legitimately owned by the woman's husband, was
recovered near the two bodies. Further tests will be needed before
it can be established whether it was the murder weapon. A dog
recovered near the bodies had also been shot. Other post-mortem
examinations carried out on three horses and three dogs found in nearby
outbuildings showed they too had been shot. For more details see
September 2008 Incidents.
A coroner has recorded that Christopher Foster killed his wife and
daughter before killing himself (see
April 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 31 August 2008
A man was injured on the hand
by an airgun pellet after shots were
fired at a group outside a church in Braunstone, Leicester.
Another person had clothing damaged.
This is Derbyshire, 30 August 2008
A man and a woman were
robbed at gunpoint as they crossed a park in Derby. A man
approached on a push-bike, asked they wanted to buy drugs and then
pulled a handgun. He stole a wallet, money and tobacco.
Sunderland Echo, 30 August 2008
A garage worker in
Houghton, County Durham, was injured when he was hit by a drive-by
gunman armed with an air rifle.
Liverpool Echo, 30 August 2008 *
Jude Fursland, 18, was
caught with a semi-automatic pistol and £18000 worth of drugs in his
mother's house in Woolton, Merseyside. An
air rifle and a haul of knives were
also uncovered. After admitting one count of possessing a firearm,
and two further charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to
supply, he has been sent to a young offenders' institute for six years.
Leicester Mercury, 30 August 2008
A woman and a taxi driver who
tackled an armed robber in Beaumont Leys, Leicester, in November
2007 (see Incidents),
have spoken about the incident along with the victim of the initial
attack. The driver had jumped from the taxi after seeing Paul Knight
pull a gun on a passenger he had just dropped off and the woman came to
his rescue. Knight pulled the trigger on the gun but it did not go
off. All three have received police bravery awards. Knight was
jailed for six year for the robbery in March 2008.
Evening Chronicle (Newcastle), 30 August 2008 *
Northumbria Police
and Durham Constabulary have confiscated a deadly haul of more
than 1400 firearms in the last year. The haul included machine
guns, military assault rifles, revolvers, sawn-off shotguns and
thousands of rounds of ammunition. Northumbria Police revealed
that 229 air rifles and 122
air pistols have been taken off the
streets since April 2007. Full details are available in the
article.
The Citizen (Gloucestershire), 30 August 2008 *
A bus travelling through
Cinderford was hit with an air rifle
pellet which smashed through a window near the back of the vehicle.
The bus was empty at the time of the incident.
BBC, 30 August 2008
A man was taken to hospital
and treated for non-life-threatening injuries after being shot in
Peckham, south-east London. Police have said the shooting could
easily "have resulted in a fatality".
This is South Devon, 29 August 2008 *
A judge has ordered police
to find a man, last living in Newton Abbot and who it is claimed
illegally had a 9mm self loading pistol with the intention of putting a
teenage girl 'in fear' in January 2007. He was due to be tried
next month. He had previously pleaded not guilty to possessing the
blank firing pistol with intent that
the 16-year-old would fear that violence would be used against her.
The man was fined £500 after his plea of carrying an imitation firearm
in a public place was accepted (see
September 2008 Incidents).
Lancashire Telegraph, 29 August 2008
David Church stashed away a
sawn-off shotgun and cartridges at his home in Crawshawbooth,
Lancashire. He was arrested when his former partner called police
who found the shortened shotgun in two parts in a holdall in June 2007.
He admitted possessing the gun, which he said he found during a house
clearance in Oxfordshire, and will be sentenced later.
Birmingham Post, 29 August 2008
A man was arrested when police
attended an incident in Rugby in which a car was fired at with a
shotgun. All the windows in the parked car had been smashed.
Nobody was hurt. The man has been released on conditional bail (Rugby
Advertiser, 30 August 2008).
Birmingham Mail, 29 August 2008 *
A number of key gang members
have been arrested and firearms recovered in a police blitz on gang
violence in Birmingham. Three weapons were recovered,
including at least two semi-automatic pistols, and ammunition. Drugs
and substantial amounts of cash were also seized.
BBC, 29 August 2008 *
Five people, including three
teenagers, have been arrested after police found a shotgun hidden in the
loft of a house in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
BBC, 29 August 2008
A number of firearms and hand
grenades were seized when police were called to a house in St Agnes,
Cornwall, after a man was reported to have made threats with a knife.
BBC, 29 August 2008 *
A man who robbed a bookmakers
in Oldham, Greater Manchester, earlier this month hit an
83-year-old man over the head with a gun. The man threatened staff
with a handgun and hit his victim as the latter tried to stop him escaping
with money. CCTV images have been released. The man has now
been jailed for 12 years for a series of robberies (see
January 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 29 August 2008
Zhong Guo has pleaded guilty
to murdering a man in a double shooting in Blyth, Northumberland, in March
2008 (see Incidents).
He also admitted attempted murder and firearms offences. The murder
victim died from a single gunshot wound to the head, his partner survived
despite being shot twice. Police dubbed it as a "crime of passion".
Sentencing will take place in September.
BBC, 29 August 2008
Six guns have been seized by
police during a raid on a house in Longsight, Manchester. The
weapons were an AK-47 assault rifle, a homemade sub-machine gun, two
Ingram Mac-10 machine guns, an Enfield revolver and an Urwin Dale
self-loading pistol. Officers also seized 460 bullets, a crossbow
and drugs. Two men were arrested.
Bath Chronicle, 29 August 2008
Duane Smith yelled at a
pregnant woman and her boyfriend "I'm going to blow your head off" as he
wielded an air rifle in Peasedown
St John, Somerset. He told the couple to turn around if they
didn't believe he had a gun, before running. He then fired the gun
in the direction of a car but was spotted by the police and arrested.
He told one of the officers he would shoot him when he saw him next.
He has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.
This is Bristol, 28 August 2008
A 10-year-old boy was
arrested after he walked into a Thornbury opticians and demanded
money at gunpoint. The boy, who brandished a
BB gun,
has been let off by police with a reprimand.
Evening Telegraph (Derby), 28 August 2008
Police in Derby
recovered two plastic BB guns from
the home of two teenagers who posted images of themselves with the
weapons on the internet.
Evening Star, 28 August 2008
Two 16-year-olds who took
part in a "gang raid" at a house in Ipswich in April 2008 during
which an air pistol was fired have
been sentenced to periods of detention. One who admitted robbery
was sentenced to a 12 month detention and training order and the other
who was found guilty of robbery was sentenced to an 18 month detention
and training order. Another youth, aged 17, had already been given
a three year custodial sentence for his part in the robbery.
BBC, 28 August 2008
Three men and a
woman, three of them teenagers, have been arrested and weapons recovered after a cyclist was shot
in the face with an airgun in
Eaton near
Norwich. The victim was taken to hospital with a facial
injury. Police have said that the victim could have been fatally
wounded (Eastern Daily Press, 29 August 2008).
West Sussex Gazette, 27 August 2008
The court has heard how a
teenager from Horsham, who is accused of murdering a schoolboy,
had threatened to shoot another teenager. He claimed he hadn't
made the threat and couldn't have carried it out as he didn't have a
gun, but police found an air rifle
and crossbow in his bedroom. The accused claimed that the air
rifle barely kills rabbits, let alone humans. The trial continues.
Scarborough Evening News, 27 August 2008
A hairdressers in
Scarborough is thought to have been targeted by yobs firing
air rifles after a hole appeared in its
window. The owner described how there had been problems in the
area before with people using pellet guns.
Northern Echo, 27 August 2008
Zeeshan Butt has been jailed
for nine-and-a-half years for his part in the kidnap of a car salesman
who was held at gunpoint before being released in field. Butt was
part of a gang of four who posed as buyers for a car who met the victim
at a station in Darlington. After taking over the car the
gang told the salesman he would be shot if he tried to get help: he was
threatened with a Taser and a gun. He was dumped in Barwick-in-Elmet
near York. Butt was caught after a police officer became
suspicious of a BMW outside a house in Swinton, Greater
Manchester, in January 2008.
News Shopper, 27 August 2008 *
John Seton killed a fellow
drug dealer by shooting him with a 12-bore shotgun on Chislehurst
Common, south east London, in March 2006. He has been found
guilty of murder and was jailed for 30 years (BBC, 12 September
2008).
Liverpool Echo,
27 August 2008
A house in Croxteth Park,
Liverpool, was slightly damaged after shots were fired.
Eastern Daily Press, 27 August 2008
A double-decker bus is
believed to have been shot at as it travelled on the Trowse
bypass in Norfolk. Early indications are that it was a weapon of
some sort, a gun or an airgun.
BBC, 27 August 2008 *
Grant Wilkinson has been
convicted of converting firearms in a shed in Three Mile Cross,
Berkshire and supplying firearms and ammunition (for more details see
July 2008 Incidents).
The replica Mac-10 submachine guns
were converted into live weapons later linked to more than 50 shootings.
The jury found him guilty of seven offences including conspiracy to
convert an imitation firearm into a firearm, conspiracy to sell or
transfer firearms and ammunition, possession of a firearm with intent to
enable another person to endanger life and possessing a prohibited
firearm. Another man was cleared of all offences. Wilkinson
has been sentenced to a minimum term of 11 years (BBC, 28 August
2008). Following an appeal Wilkinson failed to win a reduction in
his sentence (BBC, 6 October 2009).
BBC, 27 August 2008
Four men have denied charges
of conspiracy to rob between April 2006 and September 2007. Three
other men have pleaded guilty. The charges relate to a series of
security van robberies. There were striking similarities between
robberies in Gloucester, Cherry Hinton in Cambridgeshire,
Colchester, Bath and Ipswich. Getaway cars
were used after two men grabbed or tried to grab a box containing
£25,000 from guards while brandishing a gun. During another
attempted robbery in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, in October 2007
(see Incidents) two alleged armed robbers died from gunshot wounds after
armed police opened fire when a gun was pulled on a security guard.
The trial continues.
BBC, 27 August 2008
A man thought to have been
armed with a gun carried out a raid on a bank in Seaford, Sussex,
A man and a woman were later arrested in Lewes and cash and a firearm
were recovered.
Gazette & Herald, 26 August 2008
Mark Hamblin, a former
soldier, shot a friend who had come to a barbecue at his house in
Chippenham, Wiltshire, in May 2008. He fired the pellet from
an air rifle down the stairs of the
house. He pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful wounding.
He had taken possession of the gun from a youngster at the party who had
been shooting it out of a landing window. The judge considered it
had been a reckless accident and imposed a 24 week suspended jail
sentence. The victim still has a pellet lodged in his skin.
Southern Daily Echo, 25 August 2008
A filling station manager
was threatened at gunpoint during an armed robbery in Southampton.
He handed over a large quantity of cash when confronted by an armed
robber brandishing a handgun.
Evening Star, 25 August 2008
A teenager made off with
just £30 after a robbery at a newsagents in Chantry, Suffolk.
The robber demanded money before brandishing a handgun.
BBC, 25 August 2008 *
Two men have been charged in
connection with an armed raid on a bookmakers in Gateshead.
Staff were threatened with a gun during the robbery but nobody was
injured. Both men have been jailed for five years after pleading
guilty to robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm and knife (see
November 2008 Incidents).
BBC, 25 August 2008 *
An 18-month-old boy is
critically ill after being shot with an airgun,
apparently by his five-year-old sister. In what the police have
described as a 'tragic accident' the boy was shot in the head while
playing in the garden of his home in Washwood Heath, Birmingham.
It appears that the gun was left unattended by the children's father.
See GCN
Press Release. The boy has since died in
hospital (BBC, 1 September 2008). A man has been given a
conditional discharge after pleading guilty to causing or allowing the
death of his son (see June
2009 Incidents).
The Journal, 24 August 2008
An 11-year-old girl may need
surgery after being hit in the eye by a pellet fired from an
airgun or
BB gun. The girl was taken to
hospital after the incident which occurred in Blyth,
Northumberland. Police are speaking to an eight-year-old boy,
believed to be a neighbour of the girl's family, in connection with the
shooting. The victim must now have an operation and doctors have
told her she may suffer permanent damage. Her iris has been torn,
which is letting light in (Evening Chronicle, 29 August 2008).
BBC, 23 August 2008 *
A man who was shot in the
Newtown area of Birmingham died after being taken to hospital.
He is believed to have been a senior member of the Johnson Crew who may
have been lured to his death by women linked to another gang (Sunday
Mercury, 31 August 2008). A man has been found guilty of
murder and sentenced to a minimum of 25 years (see
December 2009 Incidents).
This is South Devon, 22 August 2008
Pamela Wakeham has pleaded
guilty to a summons issued under the Firearms Act 1968 of failing to
comply with a shotgun certificate condition and notify her change of
address. She was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and
order to pay costs. Magistrates ordered the forfeiture and
destruction of the 16 bore guns. The offence arose when she moved
to a mobile home in Abbotskerswell, Devon.
The Gazette (Blackpool), 22 August 2008
A gun-toting robber escaped
on a push bike after carrying out a raid on a bank in Blackpool.
He wrestled a cash box free from a security guard before escaping with
thousands of pounds. Police have named the wanted man as Russell
Grant who is suspected to have carried out several violent robberies and
is wanted by a number of police forces (The Citizen (Blackpool),
26 August 2008).
Shropshire Star, 22 August 2008
Two youths suspected of
firing an airgun from the window of
a car being driven around Pontesbury and Minsterley, near
Shrewsbury, were arrested on firearms offences after a three-car smash.
Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 22 August 2008
Darryl Phillips of Crick,
Northamptonshire,
threatened his partner's daughter and her friends with a
blank-firing pistol. He pleaded
guilty to possessing a firearm with intent cause fear of violence but
denied putting the gun against his partner's daughter's temple. He
will be sentenced in September. Phillips was under the influence
of alcohol at the time of the incident.
Middleton Today, 22 August 2008
Chakka Williams has been
jailed for six-and-a-half years after admitting breaking into a home in
Moortown, Leeds, in January 2008 and stealing more than £300 in
cash and knives and jewellery. He accomplice has never been
caught. Williams was carrying a fake gun,
a cigarette lighter shaped like a handgun. During the robbery,
which was believed to be linked to a drugs-related argument two victims
were tied up and one of then was stabbed and slashed several times with
a knife.
BBC, 22 August 2008
An 18-year-old was dumped
outside a hospital in Bristol with suspected gunshot wounds.
He was found by staff and underwent surgery. He remained in a
stable condition. Two men were arrested in connection with the
incident and have been bailed.
BBC, 22 August 2008
A man has died after being
found with gunshot wounds in a street in Walworth, south east
London. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
This is Bristol, 21 August 2008
Following reports that a
gunman had sexually assaulted a woman, armed police surrounded a flat in
Fishponds, Bristol. A man was arrested after a 15-minute
stand-off. No shots were fired.
Harborough Mail, 21 August 2008
Youths armed with an
air
rifle were spotted walking along a disused railway line near Market
Harborough, Leicestershire. The police were called but could
find no trace of the youths.
Gazette & Herald, 21 August 2008
A man has been discovered
dead at Stoke Hill near Westbury, Wiltshire. A shotgun was
found at his side. Police are not looking for anyone in connection
with the death at this stage and there are no suspicious circumstances.
BBC, 21 August 2008 *
Armed robbers stole luxury
watches valued at thousands of pounds in a raid on a jewellers in
Newcastle upon Tyne city centre. One of the three men was
armed with a gun. CCTV images have been released. Two men
have been jailed for robbery and possession of an
imitation firearm (see
August 2009 Incidents).
Weston & Somerset Mercury, 20 August 2008
A hand-made, double-barrel
section of a hunting rifle has gone missing whilst being transported
between Yeovil and Bristol. Work was only partially
complete so it cannot be used in its present two-tube state and is
unable to hold cartridges.
The Standard (Ellesmere Port & Neston), 20 August 2008
A 14-year-old boy and two
men have been arrested on suspicion of robbery after a till was taken
from an off-licence in Birkenhead, The Wirral. One man was
armed with what is believed to be an imitation
handgun and another man with a knife. The till and an
imitation gun were recovered nearby.
Kent Online, 20 August 2008
A gunman and another man
wielding a knife tried to hold up a shop in Herne Bay, Kent, but
fled empty-handed when the store owner raised the alarm.
Fenland Citizen, 20 August 2008
A nine-year-old boy required
almost 24-hours of hospital treatment after he was shot in the arm with
an air rifle. He had climbed a tree
in his back garden in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, after he had heard
people laughing and playing. The pellet was a matter of half an
inch from going through his arm.
Evening Telegraph (Derby), 20 August 2008
Duane Gregory, 17, has been
given a four year sentence after being stopped by police in Derby
in March 2008 and found to have a 9mm pistol with silencer attached
tucked into the waistband of this trousers. The gun had been used
to fire a shot into a room at a house in Derby two days earlier.
Gregory was also found to be the "custodian" of another pistol found in
a friend's garden. He admitted two charges of possessing a
prohibited firearm, having a silencer attached and having ammunition.
BBC, 20 August 2008
A man armed with a gun
threatened staff and then fled with cash from a bookmakers in York.
This is South Devon, 19 August 2008
A landlord and a barwoman at
a pub in Torquay, Devon, were left traumatized after being robbed
at gunpoint of thousands of pounds. Two men armed with a pistol
ordered them to open a safe which was then cleared of cash.
Sun, 19 August 2008
Police swooped on a car in
Manchester city centre after a CCTV camera had picked up a rifle
on the passenger seat. Other weapons were then found in the boot.
Police retrieved an AK47, a Desert Eagle self-loading pistol, a Glock 17
pistol, a revolver and an air rifle.
A man was arrested and later charged with drink driving and bailed on
firearms matters.
Newham Recorder, 19 August 2008
A man suffered a non
life-threatening injury to his face when a single shot was fired in
Beckton, east London. The victim was treated in hospital but
was expected to be discharged.
Liverpool Echo, 19 August 2008
Police stopped a cache of
bullets being sold in a car park at a shopping park in Hunts Cross,
Merseyside. When officers searched the vehicles around 500 rounds
of ammunition for use in handguns were found. The homes of those
arrested were later searched. Three men were still in police
custody and a woman was released on bail pending further inquiries.
Liverpool Echo, 19 August 2008
A window of a ground-floor
flat in Norris Green was shattered in a shooting. A
teenager suffered cuts to his face from flying glass. A number of
people were at the home when the shots were fired. Police believe
the shooting was targeted.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 19 August 2008
A sawn-off shotgun and
cocaine were found during a police raid in Honley, West
Yorkshire. A woman, a 17-year-old youth and a 16-year-old were
arrested for drugs and firearms offences.
The Argus, 19 August 2008
A man carrying what was
believed to have been a gun walked into a bank in Henfield,
Sussex, and demanded money. He was handed an unknown quantity of
cash. No one was injured in the incident.
This is Grimsby, 18 August 2008
Robert Brown has been jailed
for six years and nine months after a raid at a Grimsby
bookmakers in which he threatened two members of staff with a
fake pistol in March 2008. He
fled with a hail of more than £3100. Brown also admitted breaching
a suspended prison sentence.
The Standard, 18 August 2008 *
A man has threatened a shop
assistant with a handgun in Leyland, Lancashire. She
refused to hand over money and told the man that the police had been
alerted, at which point he fled. A man has been found guilty of
attempted robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm (see
August 2009 Incidents).
Northwich Guardian, 18 August 2008
A .32mm calibre slaughtering
pistol was stolen during a burglary in Sutton Weaver, Cheshire.
No ammunition was taken.
Middleton Today, 18 August 2008
A man taken by ambulance
from an address in Middleton, West Yorkshire, underwent treatment
in hospital after being hit by an airgun
pellet. Hospital X-rays showed that the pellet, which was lodged
in his stomach, had been filed down to make a point.
Liverpool Echo, 18 August 2008
A 10-year-old boy is
recovering after being shot in the head with an
air rifle while he was playing with
friends in a field in St Helens, Merseyside. Two teenagers
have been arrested on suspicion of wounding (BBC, 20 August 2008).
BBC, 18 August 2008
A man was shot in the
stomach and a woman was shot in the arm in an incident in Digbeth,
Birmingham. The man remains in hospital.
Fenland Citizen, 17 August 2008
A man is to appear in court
after being charged in connection with a firearms incident in the centre
of Colchester, Essex. No shot were fired and no-one was
injured. The man has been charged with possession of an
imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Evening Chronicle, 16 August 2008 *
A shop worker was threatened
with a sawn-off shotgun and beaten during an armed raid in Swalwell,
Gateshead. The raider ordered the man to hand over cash but when
he refused he beat him repeatedly. Three men are on trial charged
with conspiracy to rob and having a firearm with intent (Evening
Chronicle, 29 October 2009). One man has been found guilty
(see November 2009 Incidents).
This is Bristol, 15 August 2008
Mark Sanclemente has
admitted possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition without a
firearms certificate after cleaners at a hotel in Almondsbury,
near Bristol, discovered a machine pistol in his bag in January 2008.
A stun gun was also in the bag. He has been jailed for seven
years.
Sunderland Echo, 15 August 2008
Two women were threatened at
gunpoint by masked raiders who burst into a home in Seaham,
County Durham. One of the women was punched in the face.
After a brief struggle both men ran off. Police have revealed that
on man had a BB gun which resembled
an authentic pistol.
Birmingham Mail, 15 August 2008
It has been revealed that an
SA80 rifle, stolen from the British Army, was found at a house in
Alvechurch, Worcestershire, where the remains of a murder victim
were buried (see 8 August 2008 below). Police also found two
sawn-off shotguns, another rifle and ammunition including dum-dum
bullets. The home owner Michael Oliver has been jailed for 15
years. The SA80 rifle was one of two automatic rifles that had
gone missing from the Irish Guards regimental barracks in London, four
years ago. The other had been found hidden under the bed of a
guardsman who had gone AWOL. In April 2006 (see
Incidents) L/Cpl
James Piotrowski pleaded guilty to possessing and handling it after
another soldier had stolen the rifle and was jailed for seven years.
BBC, 15 August 2008
Thirty one people have been
arrested as part of a crackdown on gun crime across Merseyside
following a spate of shootings. Among those arrested were three
men on suspicion of the attempted murder of a man who was shot in
Stockbridge Village (see below).
BBC, 15 August 2008
Two men have been charged as
part of a police investigation into the smuggling of firearms and drugs
into Lancashire. One was arrested in Arbroath, Scotland,
the other in Liverpool. Both have been charged with two
drug-related offences as well as conspiracy to transfer or sell
ammunition and conspiracy to transfer or sell firearms.
Skelmersdale Advertiser, 14 August 2008
A man has been charged with
firearms offences after police discovered a huge stash of bullets at a
house in Digmoor. Police found 300 9mm bullets in boxes in
a black bin liner inside a handbag in the house. The police were
at the house carrying out a drugs search warrant.
The Comet, 14 August 2008
Police have issued a warning
about the dangers of carrying imitation guns in public following a
serious incident at a supermarket in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.
A 14-year-old was recently sentenced to four months in a youth detention
centre after pleading guilty to a number of charges. He went into
the store with a loaded BB gun and
fired it at a female member of staff twice. The woman was not
injured but was shocked by her ordeal.
BBC, 14 August 2008
Three men have been arrested
for a botched armed raid on a cash van in Enfield, north London.
A security guard was left with a gunshot wound. His injuries were
not to be life-threatening. Shots were fired by the suspects, and
the police also discharged a firearm. The IPCC is investigating.
The Star, 13 August 2008
The Criminal Appeal Court
has reduced the sentence of Darren Kelly from nine months for four.
Kelly shot and injured a 14-year-old from Doncaster, South
Yorkshire, with a gas-powered airgun
in 2007. The teenager had to undergo surgery to remove a pellet
which had lodged beneath his skin. Kelly had been jailed after
pleading guilty to wounding. The victim's mother is furious about
the cut in sentence and plans to contact her MP.
BBC, 13 August 2008
A man was being treated in
hospital after being shot in Handsworth, Birmingham. A
cul-de-sac, the scene of other shootings over the last few years, has
been cordoned off.
Ashbourne News Telegraph, 13 August 2008
A man has been found dead
with shotgun wounds in his car on a country road near Ellastone,
Staffordshire. He had suffered serious head injuries. Police
confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances and an inquest would be
held within a few days.
News Shopper, 12 August 2008 *
A 13-year-old has been
arrested in New Cross, south east London, on suspicion of
possessing a converted firearm. Police found a 9 mm Baikal pistol and a
bag of 9mm cartridges in the stairwell of a house. He has admitted
possessing a firearm, a prohibited weapon and ammunition. The boy,
now aged 14, has been told that custody was "almost inevitable" (BBC,
19 November 2008). He has been given an 18-month detention and
training order (see January
2009 Incidents).
Mail, 12 August 2008
A gunman has fired on five
motorists as they travelled along the A47 near Norwich, Norfolk. Shots were
fired from the side of the dual carriageway. Windows were smashed
in five cars and a lorry. Armed police who went to the scene were
unable to find the person responsible.
West Yorkshire Police, 11 August 2008
A pedestrian walking along a
street in Middleton, West Yorkshire, was in collision
with a car which knocked to the floor but left him uninjured. A
female passenger got out of the car and is then alleged to have pointed
a long barrelled firearm at him.
Southern Daily Echo, 11 August 2008 *
A 20-year-old has been
charged with possession of an imitation firearm
with intent to cause fear of violence. Armed response teams had
swooped on a street in Shirley, Southampton, after a man was
spotted carrying what was thought to be a handgun. Hampshire
Police, who continue their "Fake Gun, Real Trouble" campaign, are
driving home the dangers of carrying imitation weapons. A
spokesman commented that it was "a needless waste of police resources to
respond to somebody who should know better. One hour of armed
response equates to 27 hours of regular policing - just think what
these officers could have been doing with that time". A man
has admitted possessing an imitation firearm in a public place (see
July 2009 Incidents).
Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 11 August 2008
A man armed with what
appeared to be a small silver gun entered a bakery in Northampton
and forced staff into handing over an amount of cash from the till.
Manchester Evening News, 11 August 2008
Thirty two
fake guns were among 112 weapons
seized by police at schools in Greater Manchester in the last two
academic years. In 2007/08 officers found 53 weapons including 15
BB guns and two other imitation firearms.
BBC, 11 August 2008
In another targeted shooting
in Merseyside and man was shot in the chest in Toxteth. He
was taken to hospital where his injuries are not thought to be life
threatening.
BBC, 11 August 2008
A man was shot in the leg in
an attack in Kirkby, Merseyside. He is being treated in
hospital but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
It is believed he was the victim of a targeted attack.
BBC, 10 August 2008
A shot was fired through the
kitchen window of a house in Radford, Nottingham. Police
were investigating after a residents reported a shot had been fired.
No-one was injured.
Liverpool Echo, 9 August 2008
A mother and her two
daughters woke in terror when a drive-by gunman blasted two windows at
their home in Huyton, Merseyside. Nobody was hurt in the
incident.
Evening Telegraph (Derby), 9 August 2008
Graham Key died in custody
after being jailed for two years for keeping firearms and
ammunition without licences at his home in Alkmonton, Derbyshire.
The possibility that the gamekeeper poisoned himself is being
investigated. The weapons found were a rusty 38.5cm-long sawn-off
rifle and a modified Bruni semi-automatic pistol.
Telegraph, 8 August 2008
Paul Peccioli, a former Tory
councillor, became possessive and overbearing and "reacted badly"
when a woman told him she thought they should stop seeing each other.
He banged his head against a wall then held up an
airgun and told her he would "deck her
if she was a man". He slapped her legs and threatened to take an
overdose. A few days later he chased after her and two colleagues
in his car after she escaped from her home in Ullesthorpe,
Leicestershire. Peccioli pleaded guilty to putting a person in
fear of violence by harassment and has been given a 12-month suspended
prison sentence and a restraining order.
North West Evening Mail, 8 August 2008
A teenager who shot a
10-year-old boy in the ankle has admitted the shooting his victim with a
G10 repeater air pistol in Walney,
Cumbria. The gun has since been destroyed and the boy has been
given a 12-month referral order, which requires him to agree and sign a
contract with the youth offending team. He pleaded guilty to
assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of an air rifle.
Lowestoft Journal, 8 August 2008
A woman was injured when she
was struck in the head with what officers believe to have been an
airgun pellet in Lowestoft,
Suffolk. It is thought that someone was using an air rifle to warn
off seagulls.
Liverpool Echo, 8 August 2008
A robber pulled a suspected
handgun on a couple in a car park in Moreton, The Wirral.
He forced them to hand over a wallet and a handbag.
Islington Tribune, 8 August 2008
The number of weapons found
in schools in Islington, north London, has increased from 14 in
2005 to 42 in 2008. Twelve of the incidents 99 incidents reported
over three years involved replica,
pellet and
BB guns and airguns.
Birmingham Mail, 8 August 2008
Two men who in September
2005 abducted a man from his home in Weoley Castle, Birmingham,
at gunpoint and then killed him, possibly by shooting him, have been
jailed for life. Michael Weldon and Mark Price will serve minimum
sentences of 23 years and 15 years, respectively. The body of the
murdered man, who was not the intended victim, was burnt and buried on
land in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, belonging to Michael Oliver.
Oliver was convicted of perverting the course of justice for
allowing his land to be used for the body to be buried and also admitted
possessing rifles, shotguns and ammunition. He was jailed for 15
years (see also 15 August 2008 above).
Birmingham Mail, 8 August 2008
Gavin Parry, 18, has been
sentenced to six years' detention after admitting possessing a shotgun
with intent. He pointed the loaded shotgun at an officer when
police went to an address in Handsworth in April 2008 looking for
the defendant because he had previously failed to turn up in court.
Parry was eventually arrested by armed police.
Leicester Mercury, 7 August 2008 *
Three teenagers are on trial
following an incident which took place in the afternoon in Leicester
in November 2007. A gunman was seen to produce a double-barrelled
shotgun from a shoulder bag and take aim at a car full of young men.
The car was sprayed with pellets. Mohammed Warsame denied
possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, claiming the gun went
off by accident, but has been found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to
endanger life (Leicester Mercury, 9 August 2008). A
17-year-old, Ali Karim, has pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun
with intent to cause fear of violence and is awaiting sentence.
Warsame has been given a nine year sentence and Ali Karim has been given
three-and-a-half years detection. His brother Mohammed Karim was
convicted of possessing the shotgun after the incident and has been
jailed for a total of six years (This is Leicestershire, 19
September 2008). The incident was linked to drug dealing.
Get Reading, 7 August 2008
More that 70
ball-bearing shots were fired at a
cleaning business's premises in West Reading, Berkshire, causing
hundreds of pounds of damage.
Cambs Times, 7 August 2008
A 15-year-old boy has been
shot at with an airgun in Wisbech.
He was walking along a street when a car pulled up next to him and he
felt something hit the top of his leg and saw a gun being pulled back
into the car.
Cambridge News, 7 August 2008
Two robbers who were part of
a seven month "reign of terror" in and around Cambridge between January
and August 2007 have been convicted. Matthew Miller has been found
guilty of a catalogue of robbery, conspiracy and firearms charges.
Terry Griffiths was convicted of conspiracy to rob, raiding a post
office and gun offences. Sentencing was adjourned. The
robberies occurred in Cambridge (four different shops),
Impington (post office), Stow-cum-Quy (post office, twice)
and Newnham (shop). On more than one occasion they were
armed with a sawn-off shotgun. Police officers found a shotgun, a
homemade balaclava mask, two pairs of gloves and ammunition in Miller's
shed in Teversham (Cambridge News, 8 August 2008).
BBC, 7 August 2008 *
An 18-year-old has been shot
dead in a supermarket in Walworth, south-east London. He
was pronounced dead at the scene. Police have said that the
victim was an innocent bystander who had been caught in the line of
fire. The shots were fired at two males who barged past the
teenager, his brother and cousin by two men on scooters who then drove
off (BBC, 8 August 2008). A 19-year-old male has been
charged with murder (BBC, 10 August 2008). A gun recovered
by police from an address in Brixton, south London, is believed to be
the murder weapon. Eight people were held on suspicion of
possessing a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life and
were later bailed (BBC, 15 August 2008). A man has been
found guilty of murder and been jailed for at least 32 years (see
September 2009 Incidents).
Three others, one of them a teenager, have been charged with murder (BBC,
8 December 2009).
Whitehaven News, 6 August 2008
A father who bought his
12-year-old son an air pistol has
been fined £100. Anthony Wilson from Egremont, Cumbria, is
banned from owning a firearm for life and was technically the gun's
owner when it was found by police in February 2008. He admitted
the offence. A boy of 12 cannot own the gun; some degree of
possession and control must remain with the person who bought it,
according to the prosecution. Wilson received a firearms ban when
he was sentenced to five years' custody for a drugs offence.
This is Lancashire, 6 August 2008
A man who posed as a
customer in a car accessory shop in Halliwell threatened the
store owner with a gun and pulled the trigger, but no bullets were
fired. When the man took out a magazine and appeared to start
loading the gun again his victim ran off and called the police.
Liverpool Echo, 6 August 2008
Police believe a man was
grabbed from the street before being driven to a community garden in
Stockbridge Village, Merseyside, and shot. The victim is in a
serious condition in hospital after being found by paramedics lying
among bushes.
Fleetwood Weekly News, 6 August 2008
Police are hunting a lone
gunman who targeted three shops in the Trafford area of
Manchester. On all three occasions he pointed a black handgun at
the cashiers and demanded cash. He took money from two of the
shops but fled empty handed from the third.
Enfield Independent, 6 August 2008 *
Police are continuing to
investigate a shooting at a pub in Edmonton, north London, which
took place last month. A man was shot in the upper body as he left
the pub. He was in a stable condition in hospital.
Echo (Essex), 6 August 2008
A carer and the pensioner
she looks after have had their home in Canvey, Essex, attacked
for the third time in a year. After the latest attack she noticed
a hole in the kitchen window which she believes was caused by a
BB gun or airgun.
Clitheroe Advertiser and Times, 6 August 2008
Homes and a car in the
Henthorn area of Clitheroe, Lancashire, have been shot at with an
air rifle.
BBC, 6 August 2008
Miran Thakrar, a small time
drug dealer, has been
convicted of three counts of murder following the shooting dead of three
other drug dealers at a house in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, in
August 2007 (see Incidents).
He has been jailed for a minimum of 42 years. Kevan Thakrar was
also found guilty and will be sentenced later. Both brothers were
also found guilty of the attempted murders of two women and possessing a
firearm (BBC, 11 August 2008). Amanda Dansie, Yilay
Tufensoy and Atul Thakrar (the brothers' father) were found guilty of
assisting an offender and each was jailed for four years.
BBC, 6 August 2008
A man is in hospital in a
critical condition after what is believed to have been a drive-by
shooting near Ladywood Middleway, Birmingham. Police found
the victim, a passenger in the car, with a gunshot wound. The
victim died four weeks later (see
September 2008 Incidents).
This is Nottingham, 5 August 2008
A man is in court accused of
being part of a gang who shot dead a drug dealer in London in
July 2002. He denies murder. Four other men stood trial for
murder in 2003.
Shropshire Star, 5 August 2008
A man from Broseley
is believed to have been shot with an airgun
while in his garden. He was struck by a pellet but not seriously
injured.
Mid Devon Star, 5 August 2008
Police say a man pointed a
ball-bearing gun at officers during
an incident in Barnstaple. They had been called to a house
to help paramedics with a suspected overdose victim who proved
obstructive and produced a handgun.
Lincolnshire Echo, 5 August 2008
Michael Brown has admitted
firing a loaded shotgun in the air in view of his neighbours in
Lincoln. He also had two knives when he was arrested by police
in connection with the disturbance in July 2008. He was given
conditional bail and committed to the crown court for sentencing on a
date to be fixed.
Rochdale Online, 4 August 2008 *
A man from Kirkholt,
Rochdale,
has been charged after a large quantity of drugs, a firearm and rounds
of ammunition were found in his home by police. He was jailed for
15 years and four months for drug and firearm offences (see
April 2010 Incidents).
Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 4 August 2008
Shots have been fired at the
windows of a home in Abington, Northampton. An
airgun or
pellet gun was used.
BBC, 4 August 2008
David English and Faybian
Nembhard have been jailed for firearms offences after a police officer
was shot while on patrol in Peckham, south London, in March 2007
(see Incidents).
English was found guilty of two counts of possession of a firearm with
intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of prohibited
weapons and will serve a minimum of eight years and Nembhard will serve
seven years after being convicted of two counts of possession of a
prohibited firearm.
BBC, 4 August 2008 *
A man fatally shot outside a
pub in Forest Gate, east London, was an innocent bystander,
according to police. Two groups of males clashed and the victim
was hit in the head by a stray bullet. A man has appeared in court
accused of murder (Newham Recorder, 1 September 2009).
BBC,
3 August 2008 *
A man
has been shot dead outside a nightclub in Bradford. Police have
appealed to a woman who rang the police to get back in touch. A man has
been charged with murder, while a second man who was also arrested has
been released on bail (BBC, 16 August 2008). Six men who were on
trial have been acquitted (Telegraph & Argus, 12 December 2009).
Leicester Mercury, 2 August 2008
A shop worker was treated
for shock after he was held up at gunpoint during a robbery in South
Wigston, Leicestershire. The raider made off with £100 after
threatening the victim with what he described as a handgun.
West Yorkshire Police, 1 August 2008
Sean Kavanagh and Nathan
Smith who were responsible for an armed robbery on a bookmakers in
Bradford in November 2007 have been sentenced to 10 years and 8
years in prison, respectively.
Scarborough Evening News, 1
August 2008
A farmer from Hutton
Buscel, North Yorkshire, was found dead at his home with gunshot
injuries. There are believed to be no suspicious circumstances.
Lancashire Evening Post, 1 August 2008
A taxi driver had a gun
pushed in his neck and was repeatedly punched by youths in an estate in
Preston. The three attackers stole around £180. A
17-year-old is being quizzed by detectives.
Liverpool Daily Post, 1 August 2008
A woman was injured by
pellets from a shotgun in an attack in Dingle, Merseyside.
The victim was taken to hospital where she was treated and then
discharged. A man has been arrested.
Hull Daily Mail, 1 August 2008 *
A convicted drug dealer has
been killed at a flat in east Hull. It is reported that he
was gunned down. The gun used to kill him has not been found (BBC,
2 August 2008). A man is on trial accused of murder, and the court
has been told that the accused, a friend of the victim, shot him dead
after a disagreement about a drug deal (Hull Daily Mail, 23 April
2009).
Birmingham Mail, 1 August 2008
Isaac Watson, who has
competed for Great Britain in clay pigeon shooting, has been convicted
of possessing a Browning automatic shotgun with intent to cause fear of
violence. He was fined £2500 and ordered to pay costs and told
that he risked having his shotgun licences revoked. He had used
the weapon to scare a skip delivery driver who had been wrongly directed
to his address in Lighthorne in February 2008 (see
May 2008 Incidents).
Watson fired three shots, claiming that he did it to get the man's
attention and denied doing so to cause him fear.
BBC, 1 August 2008
Barry George, who has served
eight years in jail, has been acquitted of the murder of BBC TV
presenter Jill Dando who was shot dead on her doorstep in Fulham,
west London, in April 1999.
BBC, 1 August 2008
A man was being treated for
gunshot wounds after being shot in the legs, face and hand in
Knowsley, Merseyside. Police believe that the victim was
targeted.
BBC, 1 August 2008
A man was in hospital with
serious injuries after a shooting in Thornbury, Bradford.
His injuries were not thought to be life-threatening. The victim
has now been released from hospital but the injuries to his legs will
take at least 18 months to heal (Telegraph & Argus, 20 August
2008).
BBC, 1 August 2008 *
Seven men have been jailed
for up to 20 years for their parts in a scheme to import and convert
blank-firing guns (Baikal self-loading
gas handguns) from Lithuania. The guns were made into "assassin
kits" with silencers and bullets and sold for £1700. Police have
seized some 56 guns and 856 bullets but believe this is "only a
proportion" of those in circulation. They have been used in crimes
in Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds,
Bradford and Scotland. The gang was led by Kaleem
Akhtar who was found guilty of conspiracy to possess firearms and
ammunition with intent to endanger life and has now been sentenced to 20
years in jail. Mudasser Ali pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life and was
jailed for 18 years. Paul Wilson, one of Akhtar's customers who
bought guns to sell on pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and was
sentenced to eleven and a half years imprisonment. Asaid Saleem
packaged the weapons and had pleaded guilty to a number of charged and
was sentenced to a total of 10 year. Agnius Malcevas pleaded
guilty to a conspiracy charge, and possession of a firearm with intent
to endanger life, was jailed for 12 years and Edgaras Malcevas pleaded
guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon and possession of ammunition
without a certificate and was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Michael Peake, who was employed by Wilson, had pleaded guilty to
possessing firearms with intent to endanger life and possession of a
prohibited weapon was given a nine year sentence. For more details
see May 2008 Incidents.
Mudasser Ali, Asaid Salim and Paul Wilson all failed to have their
sentences reduced on appeal (Telegraph & Argus, 6 October 2009).
BBC, 1 August 2008 *
A teenager who called
himself "Killa" has been jailed for life with a minimum of 19 years for
murdering a student in Stockwell, south London, in October 2007
(see Incidents).
Jermaine Callum, 18, used a converted Mac 10 sub-machine gun to kill
his victim in a cold-blooded execution. Another teenager has also
been found guilty and both received a minimum sentence of 19 years in
jail (BBC, 7 April 2009).
West Sussex County Times, 31 July 2008
Two men, Charles Carman and
Nathan French, shot at men, women and children with a
ball-bearing gun "for a laugh".
Carman drove his white van around Worthing while high on cannabis
as French took random shots at people. A 12-year-old boy was
nearly blinded after being shot in the face and a man was shot in the
shoulder in Tarring. The men have received suspended jail
sentences, Carman a 16 week sentence in a young offenders' institution
and French a 26-week sentence. Both have been given 120 hours'
unpaid work.
This is Wiltshire, 31 July 2008
The village of Pewsey
has been plagued by a six-month spate of criminal damage caused by
pellets from an airgun or
ball-bearing gun. Windows and
lights have been smashed and villagers are worried that it is only a
matter of time before someone is injured.
Echo (Essex),
31 July 2008
A 12-year-old schoolgirl was
chased by boys wielding knives and BB guns
in Laindon, Essex. The boys were aged around 11 or 12 and all
three had BB guns.
Chorley Guardian,
31 July 2008
A man has been shot with an
air rifle while walking across a field in
Chorley, Lancashire. The victim had a pellet embedded in his
stomach and suffered minor injuries.
Bucks Free Press,
31 July 2008 *
A man was discovered shot in
the stomach by a member of the public in Totteridge,
Buckinghamshire. He was taken to hospital with serious but not life
threatening injuries. A man is on trial accused of deliberately
shooting the victim at point-blank range (This is Local London, 30
January 2009).
Oxford Mail,
30 July 2008
Residents in homes in Grove,
Oxfordshire, say yobs have plagued them with threatening behaviour for
almost two years. Homes and gardens have been vandalised, bricks and
eggs thrown and airgun shots fired at
windows. The pensioner residents want a path rerouted around the
outside of the site.
Evening Chronicle, 30 July 2008
An 18-year-old is claimed to
have opened fire with an air rifle in
Slatyford, Newcastle. A property was allegedly damaged.
He has been charged with possession of a firearm.
BBC, 30 July 2008
Stanley Wilkinson and Simon
Dawber have been sentenced to 8 years and 10 years in prison,
respectively. Both men had previously been sentenced to 11 years for
drug offences in Tayside, Scotland. The latest sentences follow a
police raid in which guns (a sawn off shotgun and a converted
air rifle and ammunition), heroin,
amphetamine and ammunition were found in a lock-up garage in Wigan,
Greater Manchester, in 2006. Dawber pleaded guilty to three firearm
offences as drug offences. Wilkinson pleaded guilty to drug
offences.
BBC, 30 July 2008
*
Two men who are alleged to
have run an illegal gun factory to turn replica
guns into live weapons, later used in 51 shootings
including eight murders, have denied nine charges of firearms offences.
The case follows the discovery of weapons and ammunition at Three Mile
Cross, near Reading in Berkshire in July 2007 (see
Incidents).
One man is alleged to have bought 90 replica guns which he told the dealer
were for a James Bond film. The pair are alleged to have converted the replicas into
real Mac 10 sub-machine guns. One man has been cleared of all
offences, the other man Grant Wilkinson has been convicted of seven
offences (see August 2008
Incidents)
Burnley Express,
29 July 2008
A man from Burnley was
expected to appear in court charged with two counts of battery and
possession of a firearm and ammunition.
BBC,
29 July 2008
Five men arrested after
officers were called to a firearms incident in Desborough,
Northamptonshire, have been released. The police had found a man
with facial injuries.
Henley Standard,
28 July 2008
A robber held up staff at a
bookmakers in Caversham, Berkshire, at gunpoint and stole cash.
Evening Gazette,
28 July 2008
Sean Diggle from Billingham,
Teesside, has been jailed indefinitely for the rape and sexual assault of
a young girl. He had engaged children to play strip poker and with
BB guns and knives.
BBC,
28 July 2008
Three men, one armed with a
handgun robbed a post office in Camp Hill, Northampton. They
forced a member of staff to let them into the counter area and stole cash.
Citizen (Preston),
27 July 2008
A 17-year-old is being
questioned after a taxi driver was robbed of his takings at gunpoint.
The driver was ambushed by three youths in Fishwick who demanded
cash from him.
BBC,
27 July 2008 *
A man has been shot and killed
outside a nightclub in Limehouse, east London. The victim was
pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff. A man has been
found guilty of murder (see
June 2009 Incidents).
Somerset County Gazette,
26 July 2008
Henry Hayes was ejected from a
hotel in Dunster, went home and picked up an
air weapon. He was then seen
holding the weapon up to his head as he crossed a road. He was
arrested later after he had been persuaded to leave the gun at a friend's
house. He pleaded guilty to carrying an air weapon in public.
The case has been adjourned for a pre-sentence report.
Herald Express,
26 July 2008
John Loud, a 90-year-old RAF
veteran from Shaldon, Devon, has pleaded guilty to possessing a
.22 air rifle without the required
firearms certificate in February 2008. He also pleaded guilty to
possessing 13 .22 rimfire cartridges without a firearms certificate.
In mitigation it was stated that Loud had always been interested in guns
and that when he was a child "guns weren't taken as seriously as they are
today". He was given a 12-month conditional discharge. The
magistrates ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the firearm and
ammunition.
Evening Star,
26 July 2008
A man shot himself in the head
with a shotgun at the side of a fishing pond on Orwell Park estate
in Suffolk in June 2008. The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.
Bolton News,
26 July 2008 *
Wayne Catterall has pleaded
guilty to selling or transferring ammunition without a certificate and
possession of a firearm. The charges followed the seizure by police
of a shotgun and rounds of ammunition following raids in Bury in
January 2008. Police found a sawn-off shotgun and eight loose
cartridges. Two other men were later arrested. In May
Michell Metcalf was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to
possessing and supplying ammunition. The other man is awaiting
trial. Catterall has been jailed for four years (see
December 2008 Incidents).
BBC,
26 July 2008
Streets at Belgrave
Middleway, Birmingham, were sealed off after reports that shots were
fired, possibly from two vehicles. There was no evidence of anyone
being hurt.
News
Guardian,
25 July 2008 *
Calvin Smith, 19, brandished a
handgun at a driver at Whitley Bay Metro Station, Tyneside.
He pulled the imitation Mac pistol
from his jacket and threatened to kill his victim. He has been
jailed for three years.
Guardian,
25 July 2008
Marcus Henry has been jailed
for nine years for shooting a fellow clubber in Central London
with a tiny key fob gun. His victim was lucky to survive being
shot from close range in December 2007. He was found guilty of
unlawful wounding and two firearms charges. Police believe around a
hundred of the four-inch Bulgarian-made weapons are currently in
circulation and have warned that they are highly dangerous.
Gazette (Blackpool),
25 July 2008
Karl Crookall was caught with
a gun and ammunition in his luggage on a flight through Blackpool
airport in September 2007 (see
Incidents). He had bought the F92-self loading
replica pistol back after buying it from
a shop in Spain. Security officers found the gun and 49 rounds of
blank cartridges in his hand luggage. Crookall who held a firearms
licence and was said to be fascinated by firearms claimed he did not
realise he could not bring the weapon into Britain and did not think he
had done anything wrong. He was sentenced to 28 days in prison,
suspended for 12 months. He has voluntarily surrendered his firearms
licence.
Bolton News,
25 July 2008
A 10-year-old girl was hit in
the face by a plastic pellet fired from a BB gun,
possibly by a boy as young as eight. She was playing in a park in
Astley Bridge at the time. The girl was from Glasgow and was
targeted by a group of boys who were abusing her because she was Scottish.
The girl suffered bruising but escaped serious injury. A 10-year-old
boy has been cautioned (Evening Times (Glasgow), 6 August 2008).
The shopkeeper who sold the weapons has taken them off his shelves (Bolton
News, 5 August 2008).
BBC,
25 July 2008
A drug dealer had been told
that he faces a long prison term after he admitted two counts of
possessing firearms and drugs offences. Simeon Moffatt reached for a
loaded handgun during a raid at his former home in Radford,
Nottingham, in February 2008. An identical gun was found in a search
of his girlfriend's house.
Evening Leader,
24 July 2008
Several people were detained
after police were called to a street in Blacon, Chester, following
reports of a man brandishing a firearm. The siege was brought to a
peaceful end. A man arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm
has been released without charge. A woman was arrested on suspicion
of cultivating cannabis. It is unclear if a firearm was actually
involved.
Camden New Journal,
24 July 2008
A teenager was found bleeding
from a bullet wound in Camden Town, north London. He flagged
down a passing police car and told officers "I've been shot". A
member of the same gang, The Money Squad, was the victim of a fatal
shooting in the same area in May 2008 (see
Incidents).
BBC,
24 July 2008
A man has been charged after
more than 80 imitation guns were
allegedly seized at a toy shop in Salford. He was charged
with selling realistic imitation firearms.
Wigan Evening Post,
23 July 2008
Two Wigan men have been
charged with firearm offences after two men were seen driving around
Newquay, Cornwall, wielding an air pistol.
The gun and a lock knife were seized when police stopped a car.
Mid Cheshire Chronicle,
23 July 2008
A 17-year-old boy will appear
in court later this year charged with possession of a firearm with intent
to endanger life. He is accused of firing a shot at a house in
Winsford in June 2008.
Dudley News, 23
July 2008
A man from Upper Gornal,
West Midlands, shot himself in the chest with his own shotgun an inquest
has heard. A work colleague found him in the back garden of his home
in March 2008. The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.
Birkenhead News,
23 July 2008
Bullets were fired at a car in
what appears to have been a targeted shooting outside an apartment block
in Bebington, Wirral. No one appears to have been injured in
the incident.
BBC,
23 July 2008
Carl Fury, who was involved in
the fatal shooting of a man in Halewood, Merseyside, in January
2008 (see Incidents),
has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and been jailed for twelve and a half
years. He knew that the passenger in the car he was driving had a
loaded gun with which they intended to intimidate the victim but did not
intend to kill him.
BBC, 23 July
2008
A teenager was arrested and
then released without charge after an incident involving a firearm in
Ribbleton, Lancashire. A gun was found at a house.
BBC, 23 July
2008
A man armed with a gun stole
money from a bank in Hull. No shots were fired and the
offender made off on foot.
This is South Devon,
22 July 2008 *
Two gunmen tied up a father, a
stamp dealer,
and his sons during a robbery which took place at the family home in Barton,
Devon. A shot is believed to have been fired accidentally. No
one was badly injured, except one son who hurt his leg slightly in a jump
from an upstairs window to escape. The raiders are reported to have
posed as armed police and were carrying
ball-bearing guns. Their haul of stamps was worth more
than £400,000 (Herald Express, 23 July 2008). Craig Townend
was found guilty of armed robbery, possessing a firearm with intent to
commit a robbery and three charges of false imprisonment. His
accomplice has not been found. Sentencing was adjourned (see
September 2009 Incidents).
The Citizen (Chorley),
22 July 2008
Police in Chorley,
Lancashire, have sent out a stark warning following two incidents
involving BB guns. A 15-year-old
boy had a gun put to his head by a youngster, and although the gun was not
loaded the victim was very distressed. A 17-year-old has been
arrested. The second incident happened outside a high school when
youngsters fired a BB gun. Another 17-year-old was arrested and
charged with firearms offences.
BBC, 21 July
2008 *
A man was in hospital after
being shot three times inside a pub in Wolverhampton. His
condition was described as stable. City councillors have decided to
shut the pub permanently. It has been the scene of shootings,
violence and anti-social behaviour (BBC, 15 August 2008).
Three men are on trial and deny trying to kill the victim and possessing a
firearm with intent (Express & Star, 10 October 2009).
Two men have been found guilty of attempted murder (see
November 2009 Incidents).
BBC, 21 July
2008
A man was in custody after
being arrested in Norwich following reports of a man claiming to
have a gun and threatening to harm himself and others.
This is South Devon,
19 July 2008
Armed police surrounded a
property in Teignmouth after a man was reported to be firing
shots from the address. No one was hurt in the stand-off which lasted
two hours. It was confirmed that an air
rifle was being fired at buildings in the area.
Liverpool Echo,
19 July 2008
Christopher McGhee has been
jailed for 12 years after shooting a landlord's brother in the leg.
McGhee had been thrown out of a pub in Kensington, Liverpool, in
November 2007. He returned later with a handgun and confronted his
victim. Five bullet casings were found at the scene. McGhee
was convicted of wounding with intent and two offences of possessing a
handgun with intent to endanger life.
BBC,
18 July 2008
A man went into a bookmakers
in Leicester and threatened a worker with what was thought to be a
gun. The offender escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.
BBC,
18 July 2008
Two men were arrested on
suspicion of firearms offences at the scene of a car crash in Pelaw,
Tyneside. A bag, pulled from a car which pulled into the path of
another vehicle, was found to contain a shotgun and cartridges.
Thorne and District Gazette,
17 July 2008
Ball
bearings were fired at a party being held in the garden of a
property in Hatfield, South Yorkshire. One of the homeowners
was hit. Two bearings also smashed a bedroom of the house.
Lincolnshire Echo,
17 July 2008
Armed police were called out
after reports of an air rifle fired at
a car in Gainsborough. No arrests were made.
BBC,
17 July 2008
A 16-year-old was taken to
hospital with a pellet embedded in his forehead following an incident at a
pub in Eighton Banks, Gateshead on Tyneside. Two men, aged 17
and 20, were questioned, but the police have concluded that the
airgun was not deliberately
discharged.
Welwyn & Hatfield Times,
16 July 2008
James Chittock has been
sentenced to jail for five years having admitted possession of a
prohibited weapon, a sawn-off shotgun. He purchased the gun from a
man in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, for £400. He and
another man were involved in an incident in the town in March 2008 (see
Incidents) when two
gunshots were fired in a field behind his home.
This is Plymouth,
16 July 2008
Police recovered three
dangerous weapons, a gun and two knives, after being called to an
'organised fight' between schoolchildren at a restaurant in Crownhill,
Plymouth. The gun was a G2000 Repeater 1.77-calibre
air pistol. Two teenagers were
arrested and were being questioned by police. A 16-year-old has
pleaded guilty to possessing an air weapon in a public place (see
November 2008 Incidents).
This is Local London,
16 July 2008
Two men were kidnapped by a
gang armed with a gun and a baseball bat and were seen being dragged into
a house in Kingston, south west London, last month. The
kidnappers left the property and the victims smashed windows to escape.
Three men have been arrested. A police spokesman said the hostages
had been kidnapped from Southwark, south London.
Champion,
16 July 2008
Three teenagers were arrested
in Formby, Lancashire, after allegedly threatening a train
inspector with a gun. The incident happened when they were escorted
off the train after they were unable to present valid tickets. A
ball-bearing gun was later discovered.
Skegness Standard,
15 July 2008
A gunman entered a betting
shop at Butlins in Ingoldmells, Lincolnshire, and demanded the
staff hand over cash. He was armed with an
imitation handgun and has now been jailed for nine years (see
December 2008 Incidents).
The
Gazette (Blackpool),
15 July 2008
Shots have been fired at a
tram in Rossall, Blackpool, on successive nights. In one of
the airgun attacks an elderly couple
were covered in shards of glass.
Evening Telegraph (Northamptonshire),
15 July 2008
Patrick Kenrick was caught
hiding in a cupboard with a stun gun after fleeing the scene of a domestic
dispute in Wellingborough. He pleaded guilty to possessing
the weapon and could face a lengthy jail sentence.
Burton Mail,
15 July 2008
A quad biker was hospitalised
after being shot with an air rifle
pellet in Rolleston, Staffordshire. The female victim
suffered a wound three millimetres deep. The shot was fired from
vegetation at the bottom of gardens at the back of houses. A man
wearing a military styled jacket was seen acting suspiciously after the
shooting. As part of their house to house enquiries police seized an air
rifle, which will now be destroyed, however there is no suggestion that
the weapon was used in the attack.
BBC,
15 July 2008 *
Lance Hasdell has been found
guilty of possessing a prohibited firearm and using it to cause fear of
violence. He was arrested in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, after an
incident in Luton, Bedfordshire, in April 2007 in which he
threatened some youths with a sawn-off shotgun. The gun was found in
October 2007 in a laundry basket in Luton. He has been jailed for
seven years (BBC, 15 August 2008).
Banbury Guardian,
15 July 2008
At the trial of a man from
Banbury, Oxfordshire, who is charged with attempted murder and
grievous bodily harm his former partner described how he had become
violent and controlling, even threatening her with an
airgun.
Gazette & Herald,
14 July 2008
Jamie Antal, 19, has admitted
having an imitation firearm during a
staged armed robbery at the supermarket where he worked in Malmesbury,
Wiltshire. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and
perverting the course of justice. Two other men, David Locke-Wheaton
and Brian Jones, also admitted conspiracy to steal and possessing an
imitation firearm. A fourth man has pleaded not guilty and
will face trial. In April 2008 Antal claimed to have been the victim
of an armed robbery but it was later found the whole event had been staged
and a metal cigarette lighter shaped like an automatic pistol was
recovered.
BBC,
14 July 2008
A man was arrested on
suspicion of making threats to kill and possessing a firearm following an
armed siege in Consett, County Durham. A street was sealed
off after reports that a man had a gun in a flat. Three men, a woman
and two children were able to leave and a man surrendered five hours
later. He was bailed pending further inquiries.
The Argus,
14 July 2008
Cab drivers have been warned
by detectives to be on their guard after a spate of armed robberies.
Two cabbies in Crawley, Sussex, have been robbed at gunpoint while
waiting for their fares. In the latest incident the driver was
threatened by a man with a handgun who stole a small quantity of cash.
Forty-eight hours earlier there had been a similar robbery.
This is Hampshire,
13 July 2008
A man brandishing a gun
pointed it at staff in a bookmakers in Bassett, Southampton, and
demanded cash. The staff confronted the man and gave chase out of
the shop.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner,
12 July
2008
An
airgun was among items stolen from a portable cabin at a
business park in Paddock.
This is Lancashire,
11 July 2008
A man in Standish had a
handgun pointed at him by three men as they assaulted him and stole his
Bentley car. He had been warned by his wife that three men were
acting suspiciously near their home.
Northumberland Gazette,
11 July 2008
Matthew Johnson from
Shilbottle was given a 12-month community order for possessing an
imitation firearm and failing to comply with a direction order.
He was caught with it when a car he was travelling in was stopped by
police on the A1. The gun, which he admitted to buying from a friend
that day, was found in the back of the car.
Citizen (Gloucestershire),
11 July
2008
Armed police stormed a home in
Newent after a man allegedly threatened youths with an
air rifle. A firearms warrant was executed at the cottage
following the incident five days earlier. The police seized two
firearms and arrested a man on suspicion of being in possession of a
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
BBC,
11 July 2008 *
A young man has been shot dead
in Spital Hill, Sheffield, in what is believed to have been a
targeted attack. The 17-year-old victim was shot in a barber's shop.
The police believe he was carrying a firearm and that the shooting may be
gang-related (BBC, 12 July 2008). Six people have been held
and released on bail and a 19-year-old has also been arrested (BBC,
24 July 2008). Four men, including a teenager, have received life
sentences after being found guilty of murder (see
August 2009 Incidents).
This is Total Essex,
10 July 2008
Armed robbers fled with just a
few pounds in loose change after holding a bus driver at gunpoint in
Waltham Abbey. One of the men said he had a gun, but the driver
only saw something that he thought might have been a handgun.
Lancashire Evening Post,
10 July 2008 *
A taxi driver was robbed of
his takings during an armed hold up in Clayton Brook. The
offender, who was carrying a gun, demanded he handed over all his cash.
Four teenagers have been arrested (Lancashire Evening Post, 15 July
2008). A man who also pleaded guilty to rape has admitted possession
of a firearm, robbery and having a firearm and ammunition in a public
place and was given an indefinite sentence (see
August 2009 Incidents).
Goole & Howden Courier,
10 July 2008
An 18-year-old has appeared
before magistrates charged with possession of an
imitation firearm with intent to cause fear or violence,
possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and attempted
robbery. The charges follow an incident at a takeaway in Goole,
East Yorkshire.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
10 July 2008
A shotgun, ammunition and a
quantity of drugs were recovered by police when they executed a search
warrant on a house in Northern Moor, south Manchester.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
10 July 2008
A man is critically ill in
hospital after he was shot in Everton, Liverpool. Police
officers found the victim with a gunshot wound to his chest. His
condition is critical by stable.
Devon 24,
10 July 2008
A Falco single barrel .410
calibre shotgun was stolen during a house burglary in Alfington,
Devon.
Whitehaven News,
9 July 2008
Warnings have gone out from
police about the use of air rifles in
and around the village of Moresby Parks, Cumbria, where two have
already been seized. The police action was taken in response to
concern from some members of the public about the use of air rifles and
the associated risk to pet animals.
The Star (Sheffield),
9 July 2008
A 16-year-old boy was taken
home by police after he was spotted carrying what officer thought was a
machine gun in Creswell. The gun turned out to be a
ball bearing gun. The weapon was
later destroyed. The dangers of carrying imitation weapons in public
were discussed with the teenager and his parents.
Northern Echo,
9 July 2008
A man has been found not
guilty of carrying out a gunpoint raid at a shop in Seaham, County Durham, in January 2007.
The man had been arrested and an imitation handgun
found under his bed, but the court heard that the imitation Taurus-type
handgun had been given to his 4-year-old son by an uncle.
Northampton Chronicle & Echo,
9 July 2008 *
A man was arrested in
Lavendon, Buckinghamshire, following an incident in which a single
shotgun round was fired through the window of a house in Northampton.
Two people were inside but were uninjured. A man has appeared in
court to deny possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life (Northampton Chronicle & Echo,
23 September 2008)
News & Star, 9
July 2008
Adam Hoyle was caught with a
1917 Luger pistol which he had taken to his home in Kirkby Stephen,
Cumbria, after finding it in a skip. He was given a 12-month prison
sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid
work. He admitted possessing the pistol without a licence.
Lancashire Evening Post,
9 July 2008
A woman who visited the police
station in Leyland to try and hand over a gun,
a Colt 45, has been told that she risked arrest for possessing a firearm.
The weapon belonged to her late ex-husband and she had found it when
clearing out a shed: he had collected firearms as part of his passion for
cowboy films. The police have advised anyone in a similar situation
not to handle a firearm or take it into a public area, but instead to call
police who will deploy suitably-skilled officers to the incident".
BBC, 9 July
2008
A security guard was robbed at
gunpoint at a service station in Digbeth, Birmingham. The
gunman threatened the guard before taking a money bag and escaping.
Batley News, 9 July
2008
Six people were arrested after
an air pistol was fired during an
argument at a petrol station in Batley, West Yorkshire. Those
arrested included three 15-year-old girls and a 17-year-old man.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
8 July 2008
Thieves put a gun to the head
of a taxi driver in Wythenshawe, Manchester, before robbing him.
The doors of his vehicle were pulled open and he was confronted by three
men. The men stole a quantity of cash and other items before running
off.
Express & Echo,
8 July 2008
A street in Exeter was
cordoned off as police arrested a man following an offence involving a
ball-bearing gun. He was reported
to police after allegedly aiming the gun at nearby seagulls.
BBC,
8 July 2008
Five teenagers were arrested
after a person was threatened with what police believe was a gun at a
shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire. The youths were
detained on suspicion of offences including affray and possessing an
offensive weapon and assault.
BBC,
8 July 2008
Part of Woking, Surrey,
was closed off after residents reported that gun shots were being fired
from a building. The police said a ball
bearing gun and pellets were found at the scene.
Argus Lite,
8 July 2008
A masked robber waved a pistol
in a security guard's face as he delivered cash to a building society
branch in Hove, Sussex. The gunman grabbed the cashbox and
ran off.
West
Sussex County Times,
7 July 2008
A masked gunman robbed a
bookies in Broadfield Barton. He entered the shop and
threatened staff with what has been described as a handgun. He took
an undisclosed sum of cash before fleeing on foot.
This is Exeter,
7 July 2008 *
Christopher Gibbons has
admitted taking an imitation firearm
back to a nightclub in Exmouth, Devon, after he was ordered to
leave in November 2007 (see
Incidents). He also wandered the streets with a samurai
sword. He was jailed for two years. A doorman who wrestled the
gun from Gibbons is getting a police bravery award (This is Exeter,
13 August 2008).
Evening Post (Bristol), 7 July 2008
A teenager was threatened by a
man who pulled a handgun on him and a woman in a park in Long Ashton.
The gun was later found to be an imitation. A man was arrested on
suspicion of robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm.
Evening Herald (Plymouth),
7 July
2008
Five men have pleaded guilty
to common assault, and one of them has also pleaded guilty to possessing a
firearm with intent and to attempting to intimidate a witness. The
men burst into a home in Plymouth and viciously attacked a
middle-aged man and his stepson. They also threatened to petrol-bomb
the house. Curtis Peacock returned several months later in December
2007 and shot at the house repeatedly with an
airgun in a bid to terrify the victim into dropping charges.
Peacock was given two 16-month terms in a young offenders' institution for
the firearms and witness intimidation offences plus two months for
assault. The other men were also given custodial sentences.
Daily Echo, 7 July 2008
Dorset Police have apologised
to a man who was pinned to Bournemouth railway station platform by armed police in a case of mistaken identity. He was ordered at
gunpoint to lie on the ground following an alleged armed incident in
Basingstoke, Hampshire. The IPPC has told Dorset police to
investigate the case (This is Hampshire, 9 July 2008).
Coventry Telegraph, 7 July 2008
Paul Heath, 20, and Deke
Hogan, 19, have been jailed for threatening staff at a shop in
Willenhall, Coventry, with a knife and an
imitation gun during a raid in September 2007. They stole
a jar of cash containing £17. They were given custodial sentences of
two-and-a-half years and a minimum of four-and-a-half-years, respectively.
Hogan was in breach of a suspended sentence imposed for assaulting a
police officer.
BBC, 7 July
2008
A teenage girl and two men
have been arrested after a gun was found at a house in Blackpool,
Lancashire. Police are trying to establish what type of gun was
recovered. One man is still being questioned but the other two have
been released (The Gazette (Blackpool), 8 July 2008).
Northern Echo,
6 July 2008
A man will appear in court
following his arrest for allegedly being in possession of a firearm and a
quantity of drugs. It follows a previous incident in which a firearm
was discharged at a house in the Berwick area.
BBC, 6 July
2008
A man was shot during an
incident in Dudley, West Midlands. Emergency services found a
man with stomach injuries. He was taken to hospital where his
condition is described as stable.
Gloucestershire Echo, 5 July
2008
Joseph Rose, 19, has been
fined £250 and given 80 hours' community service after pleading guilty to
brandishing an air rifle in public.
He was spotted by police carrying the gun along a street in Cheltenham.
He was seen to cock the empty gun and fire it four times. At the
time of the incident he was under a community order after being convicted
for his part in handling stolen property.
BBC, 5 July
2008
A man was threatened at
gunpoint by two men who stole goods from his home in Oxley,
Wolverhampton.
BBC, 5 July
2008
Joseph Greenland has been told
that he would serve a minimum of 30 years in prison after being convicted
of murdering a man at a party in Carshalton, Surrey, in December
2006 (see Incidents).
He fired six shots at his victim.
Evening Post (Bristol),
4 July 2008
Rangano Powell, who shot a
Bristol nightclub doorman after being barred, has been sentenced to a
minimum of three years in jail. He pleaded guilty to possessing a
firearm with intent to endanger life and attempting to cause grievous
bodily harm.
Skegness Standard,
3 July 2008
A man was discovered with a
shotgun wound to his head in a lane at Chapel St Leonards,
Lincolnshire. The death has been reported to HM Coroner and an
inquest is due to be opened.
Cheshire Chronicle,
3 July 2008
John Chiotis pleaded not
guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear after his shotgun
went off at his home in Mickle Trafford after he argued with his
daughter. He has escaped trial after his daughter retracted a
statement to police. The judge said that "It was an accident that
should never have been allowed to happen. Having a loaded firearm in
the house is wholly inappropriate whatever the circumstances".
Chiotis was bound over to keep the peace for two years and his licence was
revoked.
BBC, 3 July
2008
A gunman has held up a bank in
Oxted, Surrey. He shouted at customers and threatened staff
with a small gun. He escaped with a second man who waited outside
the bank.
BBC, 3 July
2008
A man thought to be
brandishing a gun was shot with a plastic bullet and stun gun in an armed
stand-off with police. The incident occurred in the Kenton
area of Newcastle and is being investigated by the Independent Police
Complaints Commission.
BBC, 3 July
2008 *
A third man has been shot in a
targeted shooting in Liverpool in five days. The victim was shot in
Kensington and was being treated for a gunshot wound to his right
leg. The police say that the shooting is not linked to the other
shootings. A man in on trial for attempted murder for this and an
earlier attack (see below) in Kensington (see
April 2010 Incidents).
Sussex Express,
2 July 2008
Two men are on trial both
charged with blackmailing and threatening two men in August 2007.
They are alleged to have held a businessman hostage at gun point at an
address in Crawley.
Liverpool Daily Post,
2 July 2008
Police cordoned off part of an
estate in Norris Green after several reports of a shooting.
Liverpool Daily Post,
2 July 2008
Neil Delacruz has pleaded
guilty to taking a revolver with cartridges to his mother's house in
Childwall, Merseyside, and attacking another man in April 2008.
The gun was fired and a bullet was later found in the room. He
denied further charges including possessing a firearm and ammunition.
A woman accused with him denied possessing a prohibited weapon and
ammunition and making threats to kill and unlawfully wounding the victim.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
2 July 2008
A man had a handgun held to
his head by masked robbers in Manchester. His mobile phone
was stolen.
Evening Telegraph (Northampton),
2 July 2008
Two 17-year-olds have been
arrested after an incident involving an airgun in Corby. A
cyclist was struck in the body with an airgun
pellet causing him to swerve into the road.
Bexley Telegraph,
2 July 2008
Two men are on trial accused
of murdering a man who died after being shot in the stomach during a
stand-off between two groups of young men in Woolwich, south east
London, in July 2008 (see
Incidents).
Both were cleared of murder and manslaughter after claiming that the
pistol went off by accident. One of the defendants claimed he found
a gun lying on the ground and picked it up fearing he might be attacked,
but he did not deliberately fire it. Musa Ibrahim admitted holding
the gun (This is Local London, 25 July 2008).
BBC, 2 July
2008
A house in Derby was
damaged after shots, apparently from a replica
airgun, were fired. A window was smashed and a car was
damaged during the incident. A man was arrested on suspicion of
causing criminal damage.
This is Hampshire,
1 July 2008
Armed robbers threatened staff
with a handgun in a raid on a betting shop in Swaythling,
Southampton. A handgun was pointed at staff. The gang of three
men escaped with cash in excess of £1,000.
Northampton Chronicle & Echo,
1 July 2008
Andrew Heron, a former
soldier, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after threatening a
cashier at a petrol station in Northampton with a
ball-bearing gun. The incident took
place in March 2008 (see
Incidents).
Northampton Chronicle & Echo,
1 July 2008
A teenage boy was recovering
from surgery to his left eye after being shot with a
ball-bearing gun as he was fishing in
Northampton. A 17-year-old boy was arrested and released on
police bail following the incident. The victim's father has revealed
that his son could have the pellet in his eye for the rest of his life (Evening
Telegraph, 7 July 2008).
Fleetwood Weekly News,
1 July 2008
Paul Farnhill was arrested
near 10 Downing Street with an imitation
firearm in January 2008. He had also been found with the
weapon at Watford Gap service station. He admitted having an
imitation firearm on both occasions. He has been jailed for two
years and three months (Scotsman, 13 September 2008).
Evening Telegraph (Northampton),
1 July 2008
Ross Peters fired a sawn-off
shotgun through the window of his neighbour in Rushden. It
followed a long-running feud. He has been given an indeterminate
prison sentence after he admitted three counts of possessing a firearm and
threatening his neighbour in January 2008. He apparently acquired
the gun from a farmer and kept it in the hope of going clay pigeon
shooting.
Evening Chronicle, 1 July 2008
A pub landlord in Knitsley
near Consett, County Durham, has been robbed at gunpoint. The robber
took over more than £3000 in cash and rode off on a motorcycle. A
man and a woman have been arrested and police have seized a firearm (BBC,
4 July 2008).
BBC,
30 June 2008 *
A man was shot outside his
home in Kensington, Liverpool, in what police say was a "targeted"
attack. The victim and offender had left when officers arrived but
the victim later attended hospital where he was treated for a bullet
wound. Police want to speak to the driver of the car who took the
victim to hospital (BBC, 1 July 2008). A man in on trial for
attempted murder for this and a later attack (see above) in Kensington
(see April 2010 Incidents).
BBC, 30 June 2008
An 18-year-old has been
cautioned by police after he and another teenager were arrested in
Torquay, Devon, after police received reports of a man being seen
loading a handgun. Officers recovered two
BB guns.
BBC, 30 June 2008
Eleven people were arrested by
police investigating a shooting of a man outside a nightclub in
Huddersfield. The victim's injuries are not thought to be
serious.
Banbury Guardian,
30 June 2008
A teenager pulled a handgun on
a man in Banbury, Oxfordshire, before assaulting him. The
incident followed an earlier assault. A mobile phone and cash were
stolen. A 17-year-old girl and two men, aged 19 and 20, have been
arrested on suspicion of GBH.
Lakeland Echo,
28 June 2008
An
air pistol was possibly used to cause damage to a new cafe on
the promenade at Morecambe, Lancashire. A glass door was
damaged and will cost £500 to repair. This was the third attack this
year on new property on the seafront.
Fleetwood Weekly News,
28 June 2008
Two masked men, one armed with
a sawn-off shot gun and the other with a machete-style knife held a bank
clerk at gunpoint as they robbed a branch in Lymm, near Warrington
in Cheshire. Other employees handed over a large amount of cash.
East London and West Essex Guardian,
28 June 2008 *
A man has been charged with
the attempted murder of a police officer, grievous bodily harm and
possession of a firearm after he fired at the officer in Debden,
Essex. He was arrested in Hornchurch, Essex, after police used a
stun gun following a high-speed chase in which two police patrol cars
crashed. The man who pleaded guilty has been jailed for a minimum of
11 years (see February 2009
Incidents).
Banbury Guardian,
28 June 2008
A gang armed with a gun
threatened staff at a Chinese takeaway in Hanwell Fields, Banbury
in Oxfordshire. They stole £60 from the till.
Spenborough Guardian,
27 June 2008
A man robbed a cheque cashing
company in Spenborough, West Yorkshire, of a substantial haul of
