FEBRUARY 2008 - SUMMARY

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There was a welcome reduction in the number of major incidents reported from London in February, but a fatal attack in Merseyside and the death of an earlier victim in Manchester indicated a worrying continuation of gun crime in the North West.  The number of incidents involving airguns and imitation guns remains at a disturbing level.  The use of airguns in domestic incidents was highlighted by two cases from Hull and North Wales.

• Gun Deaths and Injuries - There was one fatal gun attack reported in February: a man was shot in the legs and bled to death in Croxteth (Merseyside).  However, a 16-year-old shot during an attack in a betting shop in Withington, (Greater Manchester) in January also died this month.

• Another fatal shooting occurred in a house in Trimdon (County Durham), but police were not treating the death as suspicious.

• Two men were seriously injured in shootings in Washbrook Heath (Birmingham) and Melling (Merseyside).  In another Merseyside shooting a 16-year-old received minor injuries in an incident in Huyton.  A man was hit in the stomach in his backyard in Philadelphia (County Durham): it is believed he was shot with an air rifle (see below).

• In Scotland a man was shot and injured in an attack in Larkfield (Renfrewshire).  Another victim was pistol whipped whilst walking in the street in Paisley.  A man was attacked with a stun gun and kicked as he walked home in Broughton (Edinburgh).

• Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies or attempted robberies involving guns at a takeaway in Rastrick (West Yorkshire), a newsagents in Hartlepool (involving an imitation gun), a jewellers in Caterham (Surrey), other shops in Chatham (Kent) and Eckington (Sheffield), banks in New Ash Green (Kent), Leatherhead (Surrey) (no weapon was seen) and Middleton (Greater Manchester), and at a travel agents in St Helens (Merseyside).  A petrol station was robbed in Alfold (Surrey).

• A pizza delivery man was robbed of his takings at gunpoint in Bath and a milkman had money stolen at gunpoint near Royston (Hertfordshire).

• A woman was robbed by a gunman in a street in Ryhope (County Durham).  A man was due to appear in court after two gunpoint raids in streets in Middlesbrough.

• Two men stole a rental car and cash from a man who had come to buy a car in Luton.  A woman in Barnton (Cheshire) had her car and handbag stolen at gunpoint.  A man who was kidnapped, apparently at gunpoint, and forced to drive through Swadlincote (Derbyshire) had his car stolen.  A gang of four men attempted to hijack a woman's car at gunpoint outside a nightclub in Central London.  A taxi driver was robbed of money and mobile phones after dropping off a passenger in Nottingham.

• Thieves who hijacked a beer lorry in Southall (west London) may have been armed with a gun.

• Airguns were stolen from a man in Winchmore Hill (north London): he was forced to hand over the keys of his gun cabinet at gunpoint.

• A man has terrorised two prostitutes at gunpoint after picking them up in Neepsend (Sheffield).

• A man who allegedly held his ex-partner and her daughters at gunpoint in Chesham (Buckinghamshire) was arrested.

• Other Incidents - Three separate shootings occurred within the space of a few hours in Moss Side, Burnage and Gorton (Greater Manchester), but no one was hurt.  A number of shots were fired in a restaurant in the centre of Birmingham: two men were arrested.

• Two shots were discharged in a nightclub in Preston, and a gunman is believed to have fired his weapon towards the entrance of a nightclub in Finsbury (north London).

• A police officer was threatened by a masked gunman in Partington (Greater Manchester).  Two men were arrested after a five hour stand-off in Worcester after officers were threatened with a "long barrel firearm".

• Two men were arrested after a gun was found inside a house in Hayling Island (Hampshire).

• A man was arrested after he threatened patients at a Birmingham doctors surgery with a gun.

• Gun Finds, Thefts and Losses - A number of people were arrested after guns and ammunition were found during police raids in Bury, Flixton and Old Trafford (Greater Manchester).  A man was arrested on firearms charges following a weapons seizure in Mirfield (West Yorkshire).

• Two guns were seized during raids on properties in Nottingham in an operation aimed at cracking down on the drug trade.  A Brocock ME38 revolver was found during a raid on a house in Llanrumney (South Wales) in which cannabis was also confiscated.

• A total of 43 firearms were among 117 weapons recovered during Operation Kartel in London which resulted in 780 arrests.

• A ball-bearing gun and an imitation gun were found during a police raid on a suspected brothel in Plymouth.

• Three soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of stealing machine guns, grenades and ammunition from their base and selling them to criminal gangs in Scotland.

• A handgun was among items stolen from a veterinary practice in Framlingham (Suffolk).  An entire gun cabinet containing three shotguns and cartridges were stolen from a house in Kingerby (Lincolnshire).  Airguns were stolen from a man in Winchmore Hill (north London) (see above).

• Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A man is awaiting sentence after admitting attempting to kill a man at a pub in Paisley.  Another offender has been jailed for eight years after shooting a man in the neck in Glasgow.  A man who shot a rival in the chest at close range in Ribbleton (Lancashire) was found guilty of attempted murder and locked up for at least eleven years.

• Three people pleaded guilty to serious firearms offences after a woman was stopped by police in Preston and found to be in possession of a handgun.

• A member of a gang that shot a security guard during an attempted robbery in Kilmarnock will be sentenced in March.

• Two men who admitted possessing a submachine gun thrown from a car in Kirkby (Merseyside) will be sentenced in April.  A Ramsgate (Kent) man has been jailed for five years after drugs and a semi automatic machine gun were found at his home.

• A man was given a 12 month suspended prison sentence and fined £500 after confronting builders with a loaded shotgun in Solihull (West Midlands).

• A man admitted purchase of an uncertificated air rifle, possession of live ammunition, failure to comply with the terms of a shotgun certificate, possession of an offensive weapon and having a weapon for discharge of noxious substances after police had found illegal weaponry at his home near Harrogate (North Yorkshire).

• Airguns - A man was shot in the stomach, probably with an air rifle in his backyard in Philadelphia (County Durham).  A teenager needed treatment in hospital after being shot in the forehead with an airgun in Kirkintilloch (East Dunbartonshire).

• A 16-year-old has been charged with shooting and injuring boys in Kilwinning (Ayrshire) with an air rifle: he also faces a charge relating to petrol bombs.

• One of two cousins assaulted by a gang in Gloucester said an air rifle was fired at him from a car.

• A man was arrested after armed police responded to a woman being threatened with an air rifle in Maryport (Cumbria).

• Teenagers opened fire with air rifles whilst a councillor was touring a housing estate in Airdrie (North Lanarkshire).

• A man was arrested in Breightmet (Lancashire) after being seen with a handgun tucked into his trousers in the street: an air pistol was found and he has pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm.  Four teenagers were arrested in Carlisle on suspicion of possessing airguns after an air rifle barrel had been spotted pointing from a car.

• Three teenagers were arrested after a spate of catapult and airgun attacks in Platts Common (South Yorkshire).  A gang of youths used an air rifle to smash a factory window in Renishaw (Derbyshire).  Vandals have smashed floodlights at a football ground in Blackpool, probably using an airgun.

• A 14-year-old was arrested and an air rifle seized after an attack on a bus in Kesgrave (Suffolk).  An airgun sniper was being sought after three incidents in the Huddersfield area in which the window of a moving car and a house window were shattered.  A villager in Seven Sisters in the Dulais Valley (South Wales) has reported that air rifles have regularly been fired at his property.

• A woman seen with a handgun, thought to be an airgun, was arrested in Stockton Heath (Warrington).  Two air rifles were seized from two men seen discharging firearms on farm land near Easington Colliery (County Durham).

• Convictions - A Hull man who tried to execute his former wife by shooting her with an air rifle pleaded guilty to attempted murder and will be sentenced in March.  A husband from Kinmel Bay (North Wales) who pointed a loaded air rifle at his wife has been given an indeterminate sentence for public protection.

• A man who repeatedly fired air pistol pellets at teenagers in a swing park in Cumbernauld has been given a one year jail sentence.  Another man who fired an air rifle from a flat in Renfrew has been jailed for 18 months.  Another offender was fined £300 for discharging an air rifle across a road in Aberdeen. Two teenagers were jailed (for five years and two years) for repeatedly shooting a 17-year-old girl with an air rifle in Wolverhampton.

• A man who pointed an air rifle at a man during a burglary in Lincoln has been sent to a mental hospital for an indefinite period.  A man from New Mills (Derbyshire) who terrified a neighbour by pointing an air rifle at him has been jailed for 24 weeks after pleading guilty to a charge of harassment.

• A 17-year-old from Orkney who fired an air pistol he found in a car which he and another teenager had stolen was locked up for seven months.

• An 18-year-old caught with an airgun by armed police in Hebden Bridge (West Yorkshire) has been given a 12-month community order.

• A man who had a sawn-off bolt action air rifle which fell within the terms of the Firearm Act at his home in Barrhead (Renfrewshire) has been jailed for six months.

• Imitation Guns - A customer was hit and the owner threatened when a man, probably armed with an imitation gun, attempted to rob a newsagents in Hartlepool.

• Two men were arrested after armed police were called to Llangollen (Denbighshire): the men were charged with theft, public order offences and one was charged with possession of an imitation gun.

• Police seized an imitation gun from a man arrested in Bridgwater (Somerset) after reports that another man was being threatened with a handgun.

• Armed police were called to Churchdown near Gloucester after reports of youths carrying a firearm which turned out to be a water pistol.  A man with a toy gun was arrested by armed police after being seen in the centre of Norwich.

• Staff at a bank in Penzance (Cornwall) staged a prank in which they kidnapped their manager at gunpoint using replica guns.

• A "13-year-old" burglar armed with a ball-bearing gun is being sought after he struck six times in Bacup and Whitworth (Lancashire).

• Two boys, aged 11 and 13, were advised about carrying an imitation weapon in public after being spotted with a ball-bearing gun in Conisbrough (South Yorkshire).

• Convictions - Two brothers who brandished a fake gun at a family in Hillingdon (West London) had already battered a woman to death: they were convicted of murder, aggravated burglary, wounding and possessing an imitation firearm.

• A man who threatened workers at a Worcester farm with a ball-bearing gun and cleaver has been jailed for five years.  Another man who aimed an imitation gun at a teenager in Newmains (North Lanarkshire) has been jailed for two years.  A man has been jailed for two months after admitting culpably and recklessly discharging a BB gun in Edinburgh.

• An offender who threatened job centre staff in Brighton with a cigarette lighter in the shape of a gun admitted possession of an imitation firearm: sentencing was deferred.

• A man who made an imitation gun from a medical crutch handle and a silver torch was jailed for four months after he was seen with it in a street in Tonypandy.

• Incidents Involving Animals - This month the RSPCA released figures which showed that the number of attacks with airguns, especially on cats and birds, continues to increase.  This was borne out by the incidents reported in the media in February. 

• The toll of cats injured and maimed in airgun attacks continues to mount up. More were reported from Angus, County Durham, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire

• Swans were attacked with airguns in the West Midlands and Somerset.  A youth caught with an airgun in South Yorkshire had shot songbirds, and a man from Margate (Kent) was fined for shooting a seagull.  A duck managed to survive after being shot three times in Maryport (Cumbria).

 

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