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MAY 2008 - SUMMARY
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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 - During May there were reports of
four deaths from gunshot wounds. Two of these were
homicides: a 17-year-old died a few days after
being shot in an attack in Camden (north London) (a
16-year-old boy has been arrested) and a newsagent in Huyton
(Merseyside) was fatally shot. A licensed shotgun owner was killed by
police following a siege in Chelsea (London). A
pensioner died after being shot in the chest with a shotgun in
Bourton-on-the-Water (Gloucestershire): police were not
treating his death as suspicious.
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A number of men were seriously
injured in shooting incidents, and one woman was badly hurt in
a shooting in an office building in the centre of Glasgow.
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In London a man was in a
critical condition after being shot in Norbury (south London)
and a second teenager suffered life threatening injuries in an
incident in north London, in Archway. Another teenager
was shot during a mass brawl in London Fields (east London).
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On Merseyside male victims were
injured in a second shooting incident in Huyton and in two
others in Halewood and Old Swan.
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Three men were injured in
incidents in the West Midlands: one was shot in the stomach in
Newtown (Birmingham), another in the leg in Bilston and a third victim
was hit in the eye at a house in
Woodgate Valley.
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In
Greater Manchester a man was shot in a targeted attack in
Salford. Another victim was shot three times by a gang
who attacked him at his home in Newall Green
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A man was shot in the head in a targeted
attack in Caversham (Reading). A teenager was charged with attempted
murder after a man was shot in the back in Consett (County
Durham). A man was in a serious condition in hospital after being shot
in Allenton (Derby).
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Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies or
attempted robberies by armed men on banks in Cheltenham (the
man claimed in a note that he had a gun) and Oldham (Greater
Manchester), on stores in Dundee,
Vange (Essex), Huddersfield (West Yorkshire) (two stores were
targeted), Exeter (Devon), Gainsborough (Lincolnshire) and
Pinehurst (Wiltshire) and on a garage in Gossops Green (Sussex) (three men were
arrested).
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A security guard was
threatened with what appeared to be a rifle at Billing
Aquadrome (Northamptonshire).
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A robber with a sawn-off shotgun
stole jewellery and a car after forcing his way into a house
in Northaw (Hertfordshire).
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A man was robbed in the street
in Scarborough (North Yorkshire) by two men with a handgun.
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Following a car-jacking in
Bramley (West Yorkshire), shots were fired in Armley and armed
police later laid siege to a house in Beeston but the gunman
was not located.
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Other Incidents - A man escaped uninjured after an
attempted shooting with a sawn-off shotgun in Worksop
(Nottinghamshire).
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A shotgun was fired through the
door of a house in Derby, an incident which may be linked to
five previous shootings in the city. Shots were fired
into a nightclub in West Bromwich (West Midlands) and at a row
of shops in Huyton (Merseyside).
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A shot was fired at a car in
Bilborough (Nottingham) in a targeted attack. Shots were fired by the
occupants of one vehicle at another in Leicester: two men have
been charged. A car was damaged in a shotgun
attack in Salford (Greater Manchester).
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A gun was fired
at a TV screen inside a pub in Kirkby (Liverpool) and a window of a house in
Sandyhills (Glasgow) was smashed when it was shot at. An area of Stoke-on-Trent was
sealed off after a weapon was fired near a house.
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Five women were held hostage at
gunpoint in Stanstead Abbots (Hertfordshire): a man was
arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment. A man was threatened with a gun
after he chased vandals in Ribbleton (Preston): a man has been
arrested. A woman was held up at gunpoint at a petrol
station in Glazebury (Cheshire) but the offender did not make
any threats or demands.
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A man wielded a handgun in front of a
female driver after a road rage incident in Stanningley
(Leeds).
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A woman was arrested after an
incident in which she was allegedly seen wielding a gun and a
knife in Ramsgate (Kent). Police used rubber bullets to
disarm a man seen brandishing a gun outside a supermarket in
St Austell (Cornwall).
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Armed police searched for a
gunman seen in Foldcroft (Harlow, Essex) but no one was found.
Video footage captured by a resident on an estate in Epsom
(Surrey) showed that one of a group of youths on motorbikes
was armed. Police in Southampton were searching a wood
after a resident reported a gun shot and youths had been
spotted fleeing into the wood.
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A student arrested in the USA
after trying to buy a gun with fake ID is being investigated
over firearms offences and other matters in the UK.
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A resident in Kempsey
(Worcestershire) has raised concerns about clay pigeon
shooting in the locality in which shots have been fired across
a public footpath.
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Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun
Incidents) - A number of men were convicted for murder
in trials that ended in May.
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Two men have been jailed for a
minimum of 35 years after being found guilty of murdering a
man and the attempted murder of two others in a shooting in
Lambhill (Glasgow)
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A man was jailed for life for
shooting dead a man in Harlesden (north west London)
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A teenager was found guilty of
killing a woman who was caught in crossfire during a shoot out
in New Cross (south London)
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A 17-year-old was found guilty
of shooting dead another teenager in Brixton (south London):
he has been told he will face a life sentence
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Three men have received life
sentences for shooting dead a man in Catford (south east
London)
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A man has admitted killing a man
in a shooting in Cardonald (Glasgow): sentencing has been
deferred
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Two teenagers have been
sentenced to seven years and five-and-a-half years for the
rape of a girl in Woolwich Common (south east London): the
girl was threatened with a firearm.
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Two men who took part in an
incident at a gym in Moss Side (Manchester) have been jailed
for nearly five years and seven years: a victim was punched,
threatened with a machine pistol and pistol whipped. A man pleaded guilty to having a
firearm with intent to cause fear after he fired seven shots
from a pump action shotgun into a home in Raunds
(Northamptonshire). Three men, including two teenagers, were
convicted of an attempt to scare another teenager by
threatening him with a firearm in Dovecot (Liverpool). A
man has admitted firing a shotgun at a man in Hull as he
opened his front door.
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A man who was convicted in
Manchester of conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition
with intent to endanger life had supplied handguns (converted
blank-firing weapons) to gangsters across the UK: six
co-conspirators had all pleaded guilty. Three men were
jailed for a total of 19 years following their arrest during
Operation Werewolf, a series of police raids in Greater
Manchester targeting gun crime. A Lithuanian was jailed
for six years and eight months after admitting supplying
Baikal pistols for £2500 each.
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Three men were jailed for a
total of 31 years for possession of a firearm with intent to
endanger life after an attack on a house in Blackburn
(Lancashire).
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A gang leader who terrorised an
estate in Camberwell (south London) has been jailed for six
years for possession of a loaded firearm.
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Three men who threatened victims
at gunpoint in Abbey Wood and Thamesmead (south east London)
during a spate of robberies have received sentences of between
five and eight years.
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A man has been jailed for 11
years for possessing a self-loading pistol, converted to fire
live ammunition which was found in a flat in Cardiff. Another
man who was brandishing a handgun in Ely (Cardiff) has been
given an indeterminate jail sentence with a minimum tariff of
five years.
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Two men have pleaded guilty to
stealing a woman's car at gunpoint in Accrington (Lancashire).
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A Preston man who threatened his
brother with a double-barrelled shotgun on the day of his
father's funeral has had his licensed revoked and been fined
£150 for threatening behaviour under the Public Order Act.
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A man has been jailed for seven
years and three months for drug offences and possessing a
rifle which was stolen from a property in Kessock (Inverness-shire).
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A man has pleaded guilty to
burglary and has been jailed for two years for stealing
property including three guns from a farm in Carlisle.
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A man who pleaded guilty to keeping a number of guns
illegally in Cwmanan (Mid Glamorgan),
as well as admitting drugs offences has been jailed for eight
years (see April
2008 Incidents).
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A farmer from Great Stainton
(County Durham) pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without
a licence but was cleared of charges relating to an alleged
threat to his estranged wife.
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Airguns - More people were targeted in airgun attacks
during
May:
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An engineer was shot in the neck
with an airgun whilst trying to restore power in Coleford
(Gloucestershire) (a man was given a caution)
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A victim was hospitalised after
being shot with an air rifle in Rotherhithe (South London)
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Two people were hit by airgun
pellets in a drive-by shooting in Cheltenham
(Gloucestershire): three people have been arrested
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A 12-year-old boy was shot in
the chest with an air rifle in Ottery St Mary (Devon) in an
incident described by the police as an accident
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A 16-year-old was shot in the
face as he walked down the street in Burnley (Lancashire): the
weapon was thought to be an air weapon
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Two youths were being sought
after two people were hit with airgun pellets in Norwich
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A man was arrested after
randomly firing a high-powered air rifle into crowds at
Wakefield Market. A man was arrested after an
airgun was fired inside a hospital in Sunderland.
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A man was arrested in Ivybridge
(Devon) following reports of a person being threatened with a
gun: an air pistol was found at the scene. Armed police
arrested a man in the Kingswood area of Bristol after
receiving reports of a man wielding an air rifle. A man
was charged with possessing a firearm with intent to cause
fear of violence after threats were made to the occupants of a
house in Leyland (Lancashire): an air rifle was recovered.
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A siege in Cotgrave
(Nottinghamshire) involving a man, allegedly armed with an
airgun, ended when police fired rubber bullets. Police officers arrested a man
and recovered an air rifle and a knife after an incident in
Netherton (West Yorkshire). An air rifle was recovered and a
man arrested in Norwich after reports that he was seen with a
rifle.
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A man fired a shot with an air
pistol at a bus in Exeter: a light was shattered. Youths firing an air rifle may have been
responsible for breaking the window of a train on the Weardale
Railway in County Durham.
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Vandals have been driving around
Bransgore (Hampshire) firing airgun pellets at car windows.
The rear windscreen of a woman's car was shattered in
Gleadless (Sheffield), probably by an airgun pellet.
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Criminal damage was caused in
Clacton (Essex) by an airgun pellet. A window was
shattered with what is believed to have been an airgun in
Cwmdare (Mid Glamorgan), the latest incident in a spate of
vandalism suffered by one man. There have been a number
of incidents in the Swindon area in which properties and cars have been targeted
and damaged with shots from air weapons or BB guns. The glass pane of a bus stop in Walsall was
damaged by shots from an air weapon, and a window was smashed
at a business park in Linthwaite (Huddersfield).
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A youth firing an air pistol out
of a window in Colchester (Essex) was "given advice" by
police.
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Airguns (Court Cases) - A
man has pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding after he shot a woman
in the neck with an air rifle in Bury (Greater Manchester).
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Three 19-year-olds have all
received custodial sentences after targeting victims in the
centre of Brighton whilst armed with an air rifle.
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A man has been jailed for five
years and nine months after admitting firing an air rifle at a
man who was mowing his lawn in Annan (Dumfriesshire).
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A man has been fined after
admitting committing a breach of the peace by firing an air
rifle on an area of waste ground in Brechin (Angus).
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A
teenager was jailed for 12 weeks for stealing a mini-moto and
an air rifle in Halifax (West Yorkshire).
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Imitation Guns - It is clear from this month's
incidents that despite recent legislation imitation guns are
still on sale and continue to be used in criminal activity and
anti-social behaviour. North Wales Police, for instance,
have dealt with 83 criminal incidents involving BB guns, air
weapons and replica firearms over the last 12 months.
However, the authorities do appear to be taking the issue
seriously with raids on traders and prosecutions
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A youngster was suspended from a
school in Dundee after one pupil was shot in the neck and
another in the hand with a pellet gun: the boy, aged 11, has
been reported to the Children's panel. A pupil was temporarily excluded from his
school in Warwick for brandishing a BB gun in the playground
but his mother successfully appealed against his permanent
exclusion.
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A 13-year-old was attacked with what is
believed to have been a ball-bearing gun in Heckmondwike (West
Yorkshire). A ball-bearing gun was fired at a garden in
Tiptree (Essex) hitting someone standing inside.
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Two men have been charged after
a robbery in Twickenham in which three people were robbed and
threatened with an imitation gun and knives in Twickenham
(south west London).
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A man has been charged with 19
offences of being in possession of an imitation firearm with
intent to cause fear of violence, and four counts of making
threats to kill after he roamed the streets of Cippenham
(Slough in Berkshire).
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A youngster was arrested for
possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear
of violence after he pointed a firearm out of a car window in
Stoneleigh (Warwickshire). One man was arrested in
Ashington (Northumberland) after being seen with a firearm
which was found to be a blank-firing revolver and another in
Romsey (Hampshire) after being found in possession of an
imitation firearm in a park.
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Vandals smashed a double glazed
window with what Kenilworth police believe was a BB gun.
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Someone was seen firing a BB gun
into a fence beside a house in Colchester (Essex) and pellets
were flying through the fence into a garden.
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A man who died after his car
crashed with a train was due to be sentenced for having an
imitation gun in Burton-on-Trent (Staffordshire).
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Imitation firearms were among
goods seized by police and trading standards officers at a
market in Polesworth (Warwickshire). Children as young as five were
given ball-bearing guns as prizes at a fair in Market Weighton
(East Yorkshire). The Daily Post was able to
source BB guns in Colwyn Bay (North Wales) for £5.
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Imitation
Guns (Court Cases) - Two teenagers who robbed a
shop in Blackpool whilst armed with a BB gun now face lengthy spells in youth detention. A man has admitted
assaulting a woman and stealing £140 during a robbery at a
filling station in Aberlour (Moray): he was armed with a
replica pistol.
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A man who pulled a ball-bearing
gun on police in Eltham Hill (south east London) will serve at
least three years in jail.
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A man and a woman have each been
jailed for eight months for a series of drive-by shootings in
Suffolk in which two BB guns were used: a third defendant will
be sentenced later.
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Five youths pleaded guilty to
ten BB gun shootings in Gloucester in which six people were
injured: a 20-year-old male and an 18-year-old female were
given 18 month community orders and three younger boys were
given six-month referral orders.
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A man who produced a BB gun in a
surgery in Errol (Perthshire) has been given 18 months
probation and told to complete 100 hours unpaid work.
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A prisoner who was locked in a
cell at the police station in St Asaph (Flintshire) had a ball-bearing gun in his pocket: he pleaded
guilty to possessing a firearm and was jailed for seven days.
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A disabled man has agreed to sign
over his imitation gun to the police after his trial was dropped:
he had been alleged to have threatened a group of teenagers in
Ironville (Derbyshire).
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A market trader who ran a stall
in Walsall (West Midlands) has been sentenced to 120 hours
community work after pleading guilty to possessing imitation
firearms (soft air pistols) and an air weapon in public
places.
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Incidents Involving Animals - More animals have suffered
as a result of shooting incidents. As always cats and
birds were the most frequent targets, but there were
also incidents in which seals, two ponies and a dog were
killed.
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Cats were injured or killed in
airgun attacks in Bearsden (East Dunbartonshire), Bolton
(in Great Lever and Farnworth), Broadfield (Sussex), Hartlepool, Pontypridd (Glamorgan), Stackpole (Pembrokeshire) and Wigan. A
cat in Stowmarket (Suffolk) was shot with a shotgun and
survived, amazingly. An estate in Ashford
(Kent) was deemed by the RSPCA to be too dangerous for cats
because they have been targeted by guns although the ban has now
been lifted.
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Birds were targeted in woods in
Burton (Staffordshire), birds of prey have been killed in the
area around Blandford (Dorset) and five seagulls were found
dead with apparent airgun injuries on the North Yorkshire
coast. Ducks and a swan have been killed on the River
Stour in Fordwich (Kent) (youths with an air rifle are
suspected), and two swans were found dead with air rifle wounds
in Sturton-by-Stow (Lincolnshire). A heron has
been shot with an airgun in Morden (south London), and in other
incidents in the London Borough of Merton and neighbouring
boroughs foxes, squirrels and a crow have been shot.
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In other reported incidents two
headless seals were found near Kyle of Lochalsh (wildlife
campaigners believe they had been shot) and a dog was shot
dead in Colchester. Two Shetland ponies were shot and
killed in Whitchurch (Shropshire): two teenagers have been
charged.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
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