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APRIL 2010 - REVIEW
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Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
See the Full List of Incidents
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Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were seven fatal shooting incidents in April,
three involving teenagers.
Five of the shootings were
apparent homicides which occurred in:
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London (3) - one man died after being shot
in the chest in Leyton, a 16-year-old girl was shot in the
neck as she queued at a takeaway in Hackney and died later (two men have been
charged with murder), and a 17-year-old male was shot in the
face in Greenwich (the circumstances are unclear, although a
murder inquiry is underway and a number of people have been
arrested)
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Merseyside (1) - a man was found
with fatal gunshot wounds in a street in West Derby (one man
was arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail)
-
West Midlands (1) - a man found
dead at his home in Whitley (Coventry) had been shot (a man
has been charged with manslaughter and with possessing a
firearm)
-
There were two apparent
suicides:
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A woman whose body was found in
a pub freezer in Snettisham (Norfolk) in March 2010 died as a
result of a gunshot wound to the head (her partner has been charged with
her murder).
-
Twenty two other victims were injured in
shooting attacks, 8 of whom were hit by pellets from BB guns or airguns.
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Bristol (1) - a man was shot in
the face with a shotgun in St Paul's
-
London (5) - a man was shot in
the arm and a teenager was injured in separate incidents in
Brockley, and 3 people were shot at a warehouse rave in
Colindale
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Merseyside (3) - a bouncer was
shot in the leg and another man hit in the chest at a
nightclub and a taxi driver was shot in the back in two
separate incidents in Croxteth
-
Nottinghamshire (1) - a man was
shot in the shoulder after he had set up camp in a hunting
area in Stanford-on-Soar
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Scotland (2) - two men were shot
with a shotgun in Pollok (Glasgow)
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West Yorkshire (2) - a man was
shot with a shotgun in Whinmoor (Leeds) (a 17-year-old has
been arrested), and another male victim was shot in the leg in Huddersfield
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Airgun and BB gun shootings (the
majority of the victims were children):
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Derbyshire (1) - a pupil was
shot with what is believed to have been a BB gun during
playtime at a primary school in Newhall
-
Devon (2) - a 4-year-old
required surgery after being shot with an airgun in Plymouth
(it was finally admitted that the incident occurred when the
child was playing in a courtyard where a teenager was shooting
and dropped a loaded air rifle), and a 3-year-old was hit in
the face with a BB gun in Torrington (a 13-year-old and an
11-year-old were given Youth Restorative Justice Disposals and
another 13-year-old was given a final warning)
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Hampshire (1) - a woman needed
surgery after being shot in the arm with an air rifle at
Portsdown Hill (Portsmouth)
-
Lancashire (1) - a 16-year-old
was shot in the buttocks with an airgun in Euxton in what
appears to have been a drunken prank
-
Leicestershire (1) - a man
suffered an injured back when he was shot with an airgun in
Barlestone - the shooting was accidental according to the
police
-
Scotland (1) - a 5-year-old was
shot with a BB gun in Fraserburgh (Aberdeenshire) (a
13-year-old has been charged)
-
Somerset (1) - a boy was shot
with a BB gun while playing in Portishead.
-
An actor was injured by a prop
firearm during rehearsals at a theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon
(Warwickshire).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies allegedly involving guns at Banks and
Post Offices (5)
in St Albans (Hertfordshire), Teddington (south west London),
Dobcross (Greater Manchester), Northfleet (Kent) (air weapon;
two men were arrested in connection with this and other
robberies at banks and bookmakers in the area), and Capel St
Mary (Suffolk) (handgun), Bookmakers (8) in
Royton (the robbery occurred in late March), Burnage and
Little Lever (Greater Manchester), Worthing (West Sussex)
(handgun), Widnes (Cheshire) (handgun), Wortley (Leeds) (handgun), Maghull (Merseyside) (two premises), and Corstorphine
(Edinburgh) (handgun), Petrol Stations (2) in Eastleigh (Hampshire)
and Warwick (possibly an imitation firearm), Pubs and Clubs
(3)
in Kirkdale (Merseyside), Holme Wood (Bradford)
(shotgun), and Elsenham (Essex), Shops (11) in Luton
(Bedfordshire) (handgun), Winson Green (shotgun), Park
Village, Dudley (where a shot was fired), Longford (handgun)
and Walsgrave (handgun) (all West Midlands), Hoddesden (Hertfordshire) (handgun), Canvey
(Essex) (pistol), Billinge (Lancashire), Northampton, and Drighlington
(West Yorkshire) (handgun), and Travel Agents (4) in
Great Missenden (Buckinghamshire), Uxbridge (west London)
(handgun), Longton (Lancashire) (handgun; a man has been
arrested), and Beckenham (south east London) (handgun).
-
Money was stolen from a Sikh
Temple in Pollokshields (Glasgow) by a gang armed with a
handgun.
-
Three men armed with a gun,
believed to be a handgun, and a knife robbed a Scrapyard in
Castleford (West Yorkshire).
-
A 17-year-old was charged after
four men were robbed of their mobile phones at gunpoint in
Rochdale (Greater Manchester).
-
There were armed robberies in
which guns were probably involved at seven
Homes in Bradford, Roddymoor (County Durham) (£100,000 was
stolen), Garside (Merseyside) (the victim, a farmer, was
threatened twice on consecutive mornings), Horley (Surrey)
(long-barrelled gun used), Corby (Northamptonshire),
Middleton-by-Youlgrave (Derbyshire) (shotgun), and Renfrew.
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A man with a gun threatened a
motorist in Sudbury Hill (north west London) and stole his
Car. In incidents involving Taxis a
student was later accused of robbing a driver and possessing an
imitation firearm in South Shore (Lancashire) and a vehicle
was stolen at gunpoint in Beeston (Nottinghamshire).
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Other Incidents - A man was stabbed to death in Maryhill
(Glasgow) by a gang armed with knives and a shotgun.
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Shots were fired during a number of
other incidents:
-
Devon - a shotgun was fired in a
dispute involving a father and son in Bishops Tawton - one man
was arrested
-
Merseyside - a street in
Wavertree was cordoned off after reports of gunfire (two men,
one a teenager, have been arrested), and shots were fired at a
house in Croxteth
-
Oxfordshire - a house door was
damaged in a shooting in Blackbird Leys
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South Yorkshire - a van
specially adapted for a man left paralysed in an airgun
shooting was fired at with a shotgun in Rossington
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West Midlands - a shot was fired
during a robbery at a jewellers in Dudley (see above)
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A man was threatened with guns
during an attempted abduction in Crookston (Glasgow).
Two men were arrested in connection with an armed threat in
Hove (Sussex) involving a shotgun. A gun was allegedly brandished
during a disturbance in Aston (Birmingham) (three men and a
woman were later arrested).
-
A man was arrested after a
stand-off with police in Dunbeath (Caithness) after reports of
a man with a gun and a disturbance between a man and a woman.
Another man was arrested at a house in Yeadon (West Yorkshire)
after a 10-hour siege - a shotgun and an air rifle were
removed from the property. A man was sectioned under the
Mental Health Act after being seen in a "distressed" state
with a loaded shotgun in Rainham (east London).
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A man was arrested and a rifle
and ammunition recovered after a man was seen with a gun in
Chandler's Ford (Hampshire). A man from Camberwell
(south London) has been remanded in custody for allegedly
being in possession of a shotgun.
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Police raided a home in
Wimblington (Cambridgeshire) and removed an air rifle after
carers wrongly claimed the owners had a shotgun.
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In the following incidents there
were reports that a firearm was involved but this was not confirmed:
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A man who claimed to have a
firearm and threatened to kill himself was not found when
police raided his flat in Blackpool (Lancashire).
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The driver of a van involved in
a road rage incident in Highfields (Leicester) may have had a
gun.
-
Two men were charged with
wasting police time after a member of the public reported
seeing a man with a gun in Southport (Merseyside).
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A man was arrested in Herne Bay
(Kent) after reports of a man carrying a gun.
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There was a 9-hour siege after
an armed response unit was called to a flat in Menzieshill (Dundee)
in connection with an alleged assault on a woman.
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Airguns and Imitation Guns - Besides those incidents which
resulted in injury (see above) there were many other incidents
involving airguns and imitation weapons.
-
A man was charged with
possession of an imitation gun and false imprisonment after a
woman was allegedly threatened with a gun in Leyland
(Lancashire). Two men were arrested in Callington
(Cornwall) after a threat had apparently been made to use
firearms - a number of airguns were found.
-
A man was charged with various
offences including having an imitation firearm with intent
after a stand-off with police in Winslow (Buckinghamshire).
Another man has been charged with possessing an imitation
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and other
offences after a police raid on a house in Deptford (south
east London).
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A man was arrested in Newmarket
on suspicion of assault and possession of a firearm,
understood to be a broken air weapon, with intent to cause
fear, after an altercation with his girlfriend but was
released without charge.
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Several replica weapons were
recovered after a man was seen carrying a gun in Scissett
(West Yorkshire). A man was arrested and a BB gun
recovered after members of the public reported seeing a man in
Romsey (Hampshire) with what was thought to be a rifle. A man spotted firing a
long-barrelled ball bearing gun in Chester was given verbal
advice about his actions and the gun was confiscated.
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Two youths were arrested on
suspicion of public order offences and offences related to
possessing an airgun after being seen on a roof in Worcester.
Two teenagers were arrested in Canterbury (Kent) on suspicion
of carrying high powered air rifles in a public place.
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A man who was shooting pigeons
with an air rifle in Lawford (Essex) caused an alert when
police received reports that someone was walking around the
village with a shotgun.
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The following acts of vandalism
were probably carried out with airguns:
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A window was damaged in Thorne
(South Yorkshire).
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Two cars were fired at, probably
with an air rifle, in Southend (Essex).
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Windows, garden ornaments and
greenhouses possibly damaged with an air rifle in Barrow
(Cumbria).
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Paintball guns have been
fired at premises in Sudbury and Tutbury (Staffordshire) - the
attacks are classed as firearms incidents by police
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Gun Finds - Guns were found during
searches in which drugs were recovered in Bristol (hunting
rifle; five people were arrested), Wallsend (Tyneside) (stun
gun; a man
was charged), Dagnall
(Bedfordshire) (shotgun and other firearms; one man was
arrested), Worksop (Nottinghamshire) (shotgun; a man has been
charged), Northumberland and Newcastle (several firearms
including a shotgun), Bootle (Merseyside) (shotgun and rifle;
a 19-year-old has been charged), south west Hertfordshire
(shotgun), and Widnes (Cheshire) (air weapon; a woman was given
a caution)
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In other raids guns were
recovered in Dewsbury Moor (West Yorkshire) (shotgun; two
people were arrested), South Tottenham (north London)
(handgun; a 19-year-old woman was arrested), Levenshulme
(Greater Manchester), and Gateshead and Durham (handgun; a number
of men were arrested on suspicion of various offences).
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A suspected gun conversion
factory was discovered in Haringey, north London, during a
series of raids in London and Leeds during an operation aimed
at tackling gangs, gun possession and violent crime (several
people have been arrested).
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A sawn-off shotgun was found by
three teenagers in an alleyway in Allenton (Derby), and
another shotgun was found behind bushes in Lambeth (south
London). Police discovered a revolver in woodland in
Stockbridge Village (Merseyside) after information was
received from the local community.
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Incidents Involving Animals - There were more airgun
incidents which resulted in injuries to cats. In April these
occurred in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Essex, Gwent
(weapon described as a pellet gun), Gwynedd, Shropshire,
Suffolk, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
-
There were also reports of
attacks on livestock, pigs on farms in Cumbria and a lamb in
North Yorkshire.
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There were a number of
airgun attacks on birds, a sparrow and starling shot in a
garden in Cumbria, a pigeon which landed on a house in
Hampshire, gulls shot in a residential area of Nairn, and
swans shot in both Cambridgeshire and Staffordshire.
-
Court Cases - A woman who shot and killed her boyfriend
with a converted blank-firing pistol, which he had kept at their
home in Edinburgh, has been convicted of murder - the murder
was the only gun homicide in Scotland in 2009.
-
One of two men found guilty of
killing a man who was stabbed to death in Shooters Hill (south
east London) was also convicted of possessing a firearm with intent
to cause fear of violence - both men were jailed for a minimum
of 30 years.
-
A man was found guilty of
the attempted murder of two men who were shot in separate
incidents in Kensington (Liverpool) - he will serve a minimum
of 15 years. A 17-year-old from Islington (north London)
was jailed for 10 years after being convicted on two charges
of attempted murder and having a loaded revolver.
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A man who shot a woman in
Wembley (north west London) in 2000 has finally been convicted
of grievous bodily harm with intent and been given a 12 year
jail sentence.
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Two men involved in an incident
in which a man was shot in a pub in Moss Side (Manchester)
were jailed for 9 and 11 months - the gunman is still being
hunted.
-
A number of men were convicted
for their part in robberies on security men in Blackburn and
Thornton Cleveleys (Lancashire) - one guard was shot in
Blackburn.
-
A man who pointed a prohibited
gun at his wife and then himself and fired it into a wall of their
home in Ongar (Essex) has been jailed for 5 years.
-
A man who tried to fire a
converted blank-firing revolver outside a nightclub in
Southend (Essex) has been jailed for at least 5 years.
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A 16-year-old who fired a
shotgun in Slough (Berkshire) has pleaded guilty to possessing
a firearm with intent to endanger life and one count of making
threats to kill.
-
A man was jailed for 6 years for
robbing a supermarket in Exmouth (Devon) whilst armed with a
gun.
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A woman has pleaded guilty to
possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear after
threatening a hot air balloon passenger with a shotgun in
Potterspury (Northamptonshire).
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The following cases involved the
possession of guns:
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A man admitted having a shotgun
and a cannabis farm at his house in Walker (Tyneside) and also
admitted other offences and has been warned he will be locked
up for at least 5 years.
-
A man found with a revolver and
ammunition during a raid in South Norwood (south London) has
been sentenced to 5 years and 3 months after pleading guilty
to firearms and drug offences.
-
Two brothers, one of whom found
a shotgun outside his home in Penshaw (County Durham) and the
other who then tried to sell it, have both been given 26-week
suspended sentences after pleading guilty to possession of a
shotgun and offences related to selling or transferring a
shotgun.
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A man from Netherton (West
Midlands) who constructed a gun from an air rifle in order to
kill a friend's ill cat admitted possessing a prohibited gun
and ammunition without a firearms certificate was jailed for 4
years.
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A former soldier found with a
component part of a pistol pleaded guilty to possessing
ammunition and firearms and was given a 2-year suspended
sentence.
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A woman from Dundee who had a
pistol her father had kept as a "war trophy" has admitted
having the gun without a firearms certificate and possessing
the prohibited weapon without the authority of the Secretary
of State or Scottish minister.
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The following offenders claimed
to have been
looking after weapons for others:
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A man who admitted possessing of
a firearm he was keeping for a friend at his home in Luton
(Bedfordshire) has been jailed for 3 years.
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A man who hid a converted
handgun and three bullets in a computer at his home in Muswell
Hill (north London) has been jailed for five years.
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A 16-year-old boy found with a
shotgun in his bedroom in Hackney Downs (east London) has
admitted the offence.
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A man from Denbigh (Clwyd) has
been jailed for one year after nearly 400 bullets were found
hidden at his home.
-
A pub landlord has lost his
licence to run the pub in Daventry (Northamptonshire) after he
allegedly attacked someone with a stun gun.
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Airguns and Imitation Guns
(Court Cases)
- Five members of a family were found guilty over the death of
a man whose dismembered body was found in a lake in Arlesey (Bedfordshire)
- the man had been abused in a number of ways, including being
shot with an airgun, and one of the three who were convicted
of his murder had a previous conviction for an airgun
shooting.
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A man who shot another in the
face with a BB gun in Crystal Palace (south London) has been
jailed for 8 years after pleading guilty to GBH with intent to
wound and possession of a firearm with intent to commit an
indictable offence.
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A man who took shots with an air rifle from the window of a
flat in Greenock (Renfrewshire) admitted repeatedly firing the
gun to the reckless danger of others and was given a 6-month
deferred sentence.
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The following people were
convicted of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence:
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A man who pointed an imitation
gun at a man's head in Gedling (Nottingham) has been sentenced
to 18 months imprisonment.
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A man who held an imitation
firearm to the head of a police officer in Market Rasen
(Lincolnshire) who had called to deal with a domestic incident has
been jailed for 5 years.
-
Another man who held an imitation
gun to the head of his wife when she was driving through
Walsall (West Midlands) has admitted possession of an
imitation firearm and assault and been jailed for 16 months
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A teenager who fired a ball
bearing gun at another motorist after being involved in a
minor accident in Peterlee (County Durham) was given a
12-month supervision order.
-
Another teenager who pointed an
air pistol at a motorist during a chase along a road outside
Grimsby (Lincolnshire) was given an 8-month suspended prison
sentence, a 12-month supervision order and 100 hours' unpaid
work.
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A man found hiding outside his
estranged wife's home with a loaded air weapon was given a
3-year community order under supervision.
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A man who pulled out an
imitation gun in a post office in Nottingham pleaded guilty to
possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and was
jailed for 9 months. A man has pleaded guilty to
having an imitation firearm, a BB gun, in a public place in
Lawrence Weston (Bristol).
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An imitation gun was found in a
car boot when two men were arrested for blackmailing gay men at a
beauty spot near Birdlip (Gloucestershire) - both men admitted
conspiracy to blackmail and were jailed for 3 years and 4
years and 4 months.
-
There were a number of
convictions for robberies and attempted robberies in which the
offender(s) was armed with an imitation firearm. The
incidents took place:
-
on Cash Vans in Swanley
(Kent) (two men who used an imitation firearm have pleaded
guilty to conspiracy to rob), and in south east London (three
men were found guilty of conspiracy to rob and possessing an
imitation firearm with intent - they robbed 14 cash vans and
bookmakers in a number of locations)
-
at a Petrol Station in
Addiscombe (south London) (two men were sentenced to 6 years
and 8 months and to 4 years and 8 months in jail)
-
at a Home in Bournemouth
(Dorset) (three men were convicted of aggravated burglary and
possession of an imitation firearm with intent and jailed for
10 or 8 years)
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at a School in Costessey
(Norfolk) (two men have admitted aggravated burglary and both
received 21 month custodial sentences)
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during a Car theft in
Stone (Kent) (a man who was armed with an air pistol was
jailed for 4 years)
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when a gang used an internet
site to lure people to Birmingham and robbed them whilst armed
with a
number of weapons, including an imitation firearm - the leader
was sent to a young offenders' institution for 5 years for
conspiracy to rob and possessing an imitation firearm
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A man who was banned for life
from owning a firearm but kept a display of weapons, including
an air rifle, at his home in Exeter has been sentenced to a
year's supervision.
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