APRIL 2008 - SUMMARY

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• Gun Deaths and Injuries - There were two gun deaths reported during April.  A man was shot dead in Harlesden (north west London).  The second fatal shooting, which took place at the shotgun ranges of the National Rifle Association at Bisley (Surrey), was not being treated as suspicious.

• There were shooting incidents which resulted in injury in Oldham, Rochdale and Bolton (all in Greater Manchester).  In Birmingham victims were injured in Hockley (two people were shot including a teenage boy) and Handsworth (the victim was 16).  Other shooting incidents which caused injuries occurred in Streatham Hill (south London) (the victim was another teenage boy), Walker (Newcastle upon Tyne), Preston and Whitleigh (Plymouth).  Another man was bruised and stabbed in Sholing (Southampton) during an attack by a gang armed with a handgun.

• Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were reports of robberies and attempted robberies involving firearms at building societies in Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) and Moortown (West Yorkshire), banks in Sheffield (two branches involving the same man) and Cheltenham, a jewellers in Bournemouth, other shops in Cleethorpes (Humberside), Prestwich (Greater Manchester), Lowestoft (Suffolk) and Doncaster (South Yorkshire), a bookmakers in Ewell (Surrey), a takeaway in Hartlepool (County Durham) and filling stations in Renfrew (Renfrewshire) and Farnington (Kent). 

• Security vans were held up outside stores in Four Marks (Hampshire), Ely (Cambridgeshire) and South Wootton (Norfolk) (a guard was shot with a stun gun).  A security guard was robbed of cash at a shopping centre in Shawlands (Glasgow).  Police are still examining whether a gun was used in an armed robbery on a security van guard in Poole (Dorset) - a man and a woman have been arrested.

• A man attempted to rob a teenager of his mobile phone in West Horndon (Essex) and a student was robbed of his wallet in Trowbridge (Cardiff).  A woman was robbed of cash at gunpoint in a street in Headingley (Leeds).

• A taxi was stolen at gunpoint from the driver in Collyhurst (Manchester).  Another taxi driver was forced to hand over cash to two armed men in Lincoln.

• A couple were tied up at gunpoint in their home in Higher Blackley (Manchester) before the gang responsible escaped with cash and a TV.

• Other Incidents - A machine gun was fired at a derelict former nightclub in Bury (Greater Manchester).  A number of people were arrested following an incident in which a flat window was shattered by a gunshot in South Shields (Tyneside).  A man armed with an automatic rifle fired around 25 bullets into a house in Fulbourn (Cambridgeshire).  A window was smashed with what was believed to be a firearm in east Hull - a man and a woman were arrested.

• A gasman fled from a house in Horwich (Greater Manchester) when the homeowner came downstairs wielding what appeared to be a gun.

• A man was arrested on suspicion of assault and firearms possession after a siege in Tylorstown (Glamorgan).  A man and a woman were arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm following an incident at a house in Netherley (Merseyside), and a man was arrested on suspicion of a firearms offence after an incident at a house in Wigston (Leicestershire).

• A man was arrested for an alleged firearms incident at a caravan park at the Isle of Whithorn (Dumfries and Galloway).  Armed police searched two houses in Paignton (Devon) after reports of a man wielding a shotgun.  A man from Newton Abbot (also in Devon) has been charged with possession of a handgun following a police raid in the town.

• Five teenagers were arrested after a firearm is believed to have been used to threaten someone in Skegness (Lincolnshire).

• A man has been arrested after he was seen with what appeared to be a handgun at his front door in Barnsley (South Yorkshire).

• Two men carrying guns caused police alerts: a motorcyclist on his way to a registered shoot was stopped by police in Brighton and a motorist in Marsh Baldon (Oxfordshire) caused an alert when he stood beside his broken-down car with his shotgun.

• Gun & Ammunition Finds and Thefts - Police found an arsenal of weapons and ammunition including a blank firing pistol and an air rifle at an address in Northampton where cannabis was also discovered - a man and a woman were arrested.  An imitation gun was among items seized by police in Bolton during a major drugs operation.

• Workers cleaning a canal in Brierley Hill (West Midlands) found a bag full of live rifle ammunition.

• Burglars stole replica handguns, a competition air rifle and pellets from a house in Northampton.

• Convictions (see also Imitation Gun and Airgun Incidents) - Two brothers were given sentences of over 30 years after being found guilty of the murder of a taxi driver who was shot dead in Pitsmoor (Sheffield).  Another man has been given a minimum term of nine and a half years for shooting a cafe owner in Spital Hill (Sheffield).  A man who seriously injured a student by shooting him at a concert in Loughborough (Leicestershire) has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years.  A man found guilty of attempted murder after firing a volley of shots at a car in Luton has been jailed for 18 years.

• Three men have been jailed for kidnapping a business man in Chingford, north London, and taking him to Sheffield - the victim was beaten and repeatedly threatened with a gun.  Two of the offenders were jailed for six years, the other for ten years.

• A man from Nottingham was jailed for 10 years for carrying a 45-calibre revolver loaded with five bullets.

• A man who pleaded guilty to illegally keeping a number of guns at his property in Cwmanan (South Wales) has been told by the judge that he would be shown no mercy when it comes to sentencing.  A licensed gun-holder from Barrhead (Renfrewshire) is facing imprisonment for possession of ammunition in excess of the authorised amount and a number of other firearms charges - another man admitted four firearms charges.  A man has been jailed for five years after admitting being in possession of a banned weapon and ammunition which the police found at his home in Kilmarnock (Ayrshire).  An offender from Craigmillar (Edinburgh) who had a shotgun hidden in his sister's attic was sentenced to 28 months in prison.

• Jail sentences were handed out to a number of offenders after firearms finds in Merseyside.  A woman was jailed for five years and three months for minding a stash of weapons in her home in Orrell Park.  A 17-year-old girl has been sentenced to three years after admitting hiding a machine pistol under her bed.  Four men, including a 16-year-old, were sentenced to between five years and six years and four months after police found a gun, bullets and cash at a property in Haydock.

• Three teenagers were given suspended sentences in a young offenders' institution and unpaid work and a fourth was given 12 months' supervision after they took a rifle and an air rifle following a party in Alsagers Bank (Staffordshire) and fired the weapons.

• A man who claimed to have a gun and threatened to shoot a woman and children in Jedburgh (Scottish Borders) has been found guilty of four charges of breach of the peace.

• Airguns - There were more incidents in which victims were shot with air weapons:

  • Five people (including four teenagers) have been charged after members of the public were shot at in Gloucester

  • A 13-year-old sustained an injury to her leg in Skipton (North Yorkshire)

  • A woman working at a garage in Boston (Lincolnshire) was shot in the leg - two teenagers have been arrested

  • A girl was shot in the head with an air rifle, apparently inside a flat in Bakewell (Derbyshire)

  • A 16-year-old was shot in the neck with an air rifle in a road in Litherland (Merseyside)

  • An 11-year-old girl was shot with an airgun while out playing with a friend in Barnsley (South Yorkshire)

• A train guard was threatened with an airgun at Horton in Ribblesdale (North Yorkshire) - two men have since been arrested.

• Two ambulances have been hit with shots from airguns whilst answering emergency calls in Middlesbrough.

• A couple were woken when one of their windows was shot twice with an air rifle in Bocking (Essex).  In two incidents in Flockton (Huddersfield) airguns were fired at the rear window of a vehicle and a house window.  A family in Portishead (Somerset) believe their kitchen window has been broken by an airgun pellet.

• It is thought that an airgun was used to try and break windows during a robbery at an opticians in Hampstead (north London).

• The Health and Safety Executive have been asked to investigate an incident in which an airgun pellet shattered an office window in Barnstaple (Devon).

• Three teenagers were arrested when an air rifle and two BB guns were seized at a house in Bracknell (Berkshire) after young men with guns had been spotted at a skate park in Chavey Down.  An air rifle was recovered from a house in Swindon where four men were arrested after a firearms-related incident.

• Would-be armed robbers are believed to have thrown away a large air rifle in Cardiff - a man and a 14-year-old boy have been arrested.

• Airguns (Court Cases) - A man has pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful wounding after shooting a teenager in the face with an air rifle in Ribbleton (Preston).  He was given a suspended six month sentence and placed on a four month night time curfew.  An 18-year-old was put on a two year probation order for recklessly discharging an air rifle and severely injuring a child in Stonehouse (Lanarkshire).  Another offender who shot two young men with an air rifle in Maesteg (South Wales) has been given an indeterminate sentence.  A man who shot a young woman in the eye in Portland (Dorset) has been given a two year suspended sentence with a curfew.

• A man was placed under supervision for 12 months after pleading guilty to assault: he had threatened his partner with an air rifle during an attack in a house in Wheatley Hills (Doncaster).

• A man from Oldbury (West Midlands) who fired a powerful air rifle at his father-in-law after a drunken argument with his wife has been given a suspended 12 month jail term.

• A man seen brandishing an air rifle in a park in Culcheth (Cheshire) has been given a 12 month community order.

• A man from Sudbury (Suffolk) has been jailed for two years after ignoring a life-time ban on carrying a gun (police found an air rifle at his home).

• An inquest heard how two brothers were fired at with an air pistol in New Cross (south London) shortly before one of the gang responsible plunged a knife into one of them fatally wounding the victim.

• Imitation Guns - An 11-year-old was arrested after two primary school pupils were shot with a pellet gun in their school playground in York.

• An armed response team was called out after two youths were seen playing with a gun in Southend (Essex) - the teenager were arrested on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearms in a public place.

• Police seized a ball-bearing gun after residents in Denton (Greater Manchester) reported seeing a man with a gun.  Armed police arrested two men in Brigstock (Northamptonshire) after reports that a man was brandishing a firearm during a street brawl - a starting pistol was recovered.

• A family who have been subjected to anti-social behaviour on their estate in Corbridge (Northumberland) have had a window smashed with a ball-bearing gun.

• Imitation Guns (Court Cases) - A man who pointed a starting gun at his ex-girlfriend in Morley (West Yorkshire) has been jailed for five years.

• There was further evidence of the use of imitation guns in robberies

  • A man has been jailed for five years after admitting a number of charges including possessing an imitation firearm and pointing it at two shop assistants in Inverness whilst he stole lager.

  • A teenager was armed with an imitation gun when he raided shops in the Reading area - he has been jailed for eight years.

  • A member of a gang who took part in a number of raids on jewellery shops (in the South and Midlands) has been convicted of possessing an imitation weapon during a raid in Winchester (Hampshire).

  • Two men involved in robberies in Lanarkshire were armed with replica guns - they have been given sentences of eight years and eight months and 11 years and 11 months.

  • Two men from Morecambe (Lancashire) have begun jail sentences totalling more than six years for offences which included robbing a delivery driver and trying to steal another man's wallet whilst armed with a realistic looking toy gun that one of them held to the head of two victims.

• A man has been given a two-year community order with supervision after pleading guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence - he had twice fired a ball-bearing gun at a woman employee at a Bradford hospital.

• A driver who pointed an imitation gun at another motorist on the M6 in Lancashire has been sentenced to 12 months in prison.

• A security guard has been awarded for bravery after helping to apprehend a man who was seen with a replica gun at a complex in East Kilbride - the man was jailed for 30 months.

• Incidents Involving Animals - April was a shocking month for reports of airgun attacks on cats.  Serious injuries, a number of which were fatal, resulted from incidents reported from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset (two separate attacks), Edinburgh, Gloucestershire, Kent (four separate attacks), Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire (two separate attacks), Shropshire, Somerset and South Tyneside

• Birds remain targets of illegal shooting, and this month the Royal Society for Protection of Birds warned of the dangers to the survival of Britain's bird of prey population.  A buzzard died after a shotgun attack in Ramsey (Cambridgeshire).  Wild birds were being shot at with air rifles by men who were aiming at bird tables in a reserve in Colne (Lancashire).  Seagulls have been the target of shooters in Hastings and Bexhill in Sussex.  A coot was killed with an air weapon in Little Lever (Manchester), and a dove was shot with an air rifle in Brierley Hill (West Midlands).  Swans were also attacked with air weapons with reports from Canterbury (Kent) and Long Eaton (Derbyshire).

 

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