Gun Incident Summaries

2006 - SUMMARIES

JANUARY 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - Four men died as a result of gun injuries in Folkestone where the victim may have been shot through a window, and in London - in Hackney in an incident in which one man was fatally wounded and another seriously wounded, in Streatham in which a man was shot during a mugging and in Ladbroke Grove where the victim was found in an alleyway. The police reported that they were not looking for anyone else in the connection with a double shooting at a house in Finstown, Orkney, in which a wife and her husband, a licensed firearms and shotgun owner, died. According to the police there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the fatal shootings of men found with shotgun wounds in gardens in Ardsley (Yorkshire) and Tintinhull (Somerset).

Shooting victims sustained injuries in incidents in Hackney (outside a nightclub, see above), Southsea (also outside a nightclub), Benchill, Manchester (where shots were fired into a house), Lenton, Nottingham (in a car park), Blackheath, south east London (during an attempted street robbery), in Parson's Green, Sheffield, (the victim was on his doorstep) and in Hartcliffe, Bristol. There were other victims who sustained injuries in attacks with airguns and BB guns (see below).

Police Officers - Police officers were fired at with an airgun in Grimsby during New Years Eve disturbances, and a gunman fired at an unarmed policeman during a chase in Dulwich.

Three men were convicted after incidents in which airguns were pointed at police (Lochgelly, Clydebank and Thorpe), a man received a jail sentence after an incident in Glenrothes police station involving an imitation gun and a policeman was honoured for arresting a man armed with an imitation gun in Stockport.

A man has been put on trial for the fatal shootings of a policeman and another man in Clapham in 1993.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - The theft of mobile phones in a Streatham street ended with the fatal shooting of one of the victims (see above), and a man was shot and injured during an attempted robbery of jewellery in a Blackheath street (see above). A man was robbed of his wallet on a Norwich street and another theft of a wallet occurred in East Grinstead when a gun, believed to be a BB gun, was held to the victim's head (see below).

Armed robberies were reported to have been attempted on post offices in Broseley (Shropshire) and Chorley, on shops or supermarkets in Middleton Cheney (Northamptonshire), Coventry, Crosspool (Sheffield) and Chipping Norton, on fast food outlets in Sunderland, Bolton and Prenton (Merseyside), on a bookmakers in Burton-on-Trent, at a petrol station in Birchencliffe (Huddersfield), on building society branches in Pershore and Gloucester, and in linked attacks from people using cash machines and at a pub in East Kilbride and Uddingston. A security van was help up on the M20 near Maidstone, and a car was stolen at gunpoint from a woman in Timperley, Manchester.

A man was kidnapped at gunpoint from Coulsdon South station and only released a day later. A gang of youths frogmarched a Camberwell teenager at gunpoint and stole items from his home, and a man from Pitstone (Buckinghamshire) was shut in a cupboard in his home at gunpoint during a burglary.

As the weapons used in many of these incidents have not been recovered it is not known whether they were real or imitation. However, the evidence from a number of court cases reported in January and from the robberies in Prenton, in which an imitation firearm was allegedly used, and East Grinstead (thought to have involved a BB gun) suggests that imitation weapons are being used in a number of these crimes.

Other Incidents - Guns were fired at two women in a Battersea street (neither was injured) and at houses in Cardonald (Glasgow) and High Green (Sheffield).

A sniper was blamed for causing thousands of points worth of damage to floodlights in Wroxham.

There were reports that a man had been abducted at gunpoint in Queenslie (Glasgow).

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Air Rifles) - Michael Millcroft and Anita Mansfield were jailed for life (minimum of 25 and 30 years) for the brutal shooting with a shotgun of two women in Hockliffe (Bedfordshire), and two brothers, Robert and Lee Firkins, were also jailed for life for the murder of a couple in their home near Wadebridge, both victims had been shot with a shotgun. Six men were given jail sentences for their part in another shotgun murder, the killing of a teenager in Wythenshawe (the sentences ranged from 18 months to life, the majority of them being over 10 years). Two men were jailed for drugs and firearms offences after an incident in which their colleague was shot dead by police in Edgware (7 and 6 year jail sentences). A man admitted shooting a man twice in the legs in Careys Field (Surrey) (9 years imprisonment), and four men were sentenced for their involvement in the armed kidnapping of a man from Doncaster (7 and 8 years imprisonment). A man was given 15 years for holding up a security guard and stealing a vehicle in Wimbledon, and a man was convicted of firearm and drug offences after his flat in Homerton had been raided (six-and-a-half years).

Firearms Recovered and Stolen - A modified starting pistol, together with a hand grenade were found at a waste depot in Wimborne. Three replica guns were among items seized by police during raids on car boot sales in Bingley. As a result of a theft from a rifle club in Hildenborough, Kent, twenty rifles and ammunition are now in the hands of criminals.

Imitation and Converted Guns - A 13-year-old girl was hit in the eye with a BB gun during a drive-by shooting in High Wycombe. A young man was robbed of his wallet when he was attacked in East Grinstead by two men carrying what was believed to be a BB gun, and a man was held on suspicion of attempted robbery and possession of an imitation gun after a pizza parlour owner was held hostage in Prenton, Merseyside. Vandals have caused damage with BB guns in Carlisle and Portishead

A man with a gun-shaped cigarette lighter precipitated an alert involving armed police at Reading Crown Court.

After another incident involving a cigarette lighter imitation gun a man was jailed for two years after he had carried it in Crawley. Two men were sentenced to 12 years and 10 years in jail for an armed robbery in in Blackwell, Worcestershire, in which an imitation firearm was brandished. A man was jailed for 14 months after pointing a BB gun at a motorist's head in Shotton and another offender was jailed for four-and-a-half years after threatening to shoot police officers in Glenrothes police station with what turned out to be an imitation gun. Another police officer was honoured following his arrest of a man with a gun in Stockport - the gun was an imitation.

During a two year ordeal a 9-year-old boy had been subjected to abuse by a man with a record of sex attacks - the abuse included being shot at with a BB gun.

Airgun Incidents - The misuse of airguns, particularly in incidents involving young people, was again apparent from reports published in January. A 14-year-old boy was shot in the eye with an air rifle pellet whilst walking in the street in Waterlooville, and two teenagers have been hit with pellets in a street in Gosport. A consultant ophthalmologist in Southend has reported that two Southend boys have each lost an eye in airgun "accidents" and a teenager from Barmston, Washington, faces surgery to remove an airgun pellet from near his right eye after what was described at a "fun fight". A postman was hit with what is believed to have been an air rifle pellet fired by youths whilst riding his bike in Carshalton, and a man needed 18 stitches to a head wound after he was struck with an airgun in Dursley, Gloucestershire. School pupils' bags were searched after a complaint that an airgun had been fired at nearby houses in Larkhall. A 16-year-old boy was given an eight-month referral order for shooting a teenage girl with an air rifle in Haverhill.

Police were fired at with an airgun in Grimsby (see above). Three people were jailed for 5 or 7 years for an armed robbery in Reigate in which an airgun was brandished. A man was jailed for 5 years after pointing an air rifle at police in Lochgelly, and another for 7 years after pointing a loaded airgun at two policemen in Clydebank. Another man was given a one-year jail term for an incident in which an air rifle was pointed at a police officer in Thorpe (Norwich).

Animals - Figures released by the RSPCA and the Scottish SPCA indicate that media reports of animals being shot with air weapons reflect just a very small proportion of the total number of incidents. In January there were particularly distressing reports of gun attacks on various species of bird.

FEBRUARY 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - Arrests have been made following the deaths of men in shootings in Thornton Heath (London) and Ripon. A number of other men died as a result of gunshot injuries (at a garrison in Berkshire, at a roadside in Perthshire, in an Aberdeen gun shop, in an apparent accident near Andover and at a police operational support facility in Nottingham) but none of these deaths was being treated as suspicious.

A woman police constable was shot and seriously injured whilst investigating a burglary in Nottingham. Injuries were sustained by other shooting victims in incidents in Croxteth, Anfield and Huyton (Merseyside), Wallsend (Tyneside), Carshalton (Surrey), Ladbroke Grove (London) (a young girl was injured by glass from a car window shattered by a shot), Glasgow, Bristol and Leeds.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - During a month in which Britain's largest ever robbery took place, when a gang abducted the wife and son of a manager at gunpoint and he was forced to allow members of the gang into a depot where they stole over £50 million, gunmen were also involved in robberies and attempted robberies on a pub (in Bedford), a shop (in Pontesbury, Shropshire), a betting shop (in Potters Bar), a petrol station (in Littleborough) and a building society (in Southwold), and on security vans at a petrol station (in Neasden) and a bank (in Ipswich).

A householder in Norwich slammed the front door on a man who demanded cash at gunpoint. A man was held at gunpoint during a burglary in Waltham Cross after which his car was stolen, a couple had their car stolen after being threatened in a car park in Cottingham, and a young woman who was with her son had her car taken in Exhall (West Midlands). A motorist was robbed at gunpoint in a lay-by in Wolston (West Midlands).

Other Incidents - Armed police rescued a 10-year-old boy, who had been kidnapped from his home in Walthamstow, from a flat in Westminster: three of the five people arrested were charged with firearms offences. Three people were arrested by armed police after reports of a man with a gun in Birmingham and two men were arrested in Sheffield in connection with over 20 armed robberies. In Carlisle two men were arrested after police received reports of a disturbance which may have involved a gun.

Police were called after reports of a person wielding a gun in Norbury and a stray bullet shattered a bus window in Walworth. A major security alert occurred when a suspected gunman was spotted at a sports centre in Crowthorne.

Armed police protected a bride at her wedding in Bournemouth after her father had threatened to shoot her.

Firearms and drugs were recovered in a police raid on a house in Bristol, and a man was being questioned after firearms and munitions were found at a house in Bournemouth.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - Trials conducted in February resulted in the convictions of a man for the shooting dead of a policeman and another man in Clapham in 1993 (jailed for 35 years), a man for the gangland murder in Garthamlock, Glasgow (sentence deferred), a teenager for shooting his cousin in the face with a shotgun in Haverhill (sentence deferred) and a man for robbery and firearms offences in one of which a man was shot and injured in Southgate, north London.

Two men were jailed for 15 months for importing a firearm and offensive weapons into the UK.

Imitation Guns - During a month in which Lambeth police reported that the number of robberies involving imitation weapons was soaring there were more serious incidents involving these guns. A woman was shot in the eye with a ball-bearing gun by burglars at her home in Yarmouth. A chauffeur was hit by a piece of glass after being shot at with a ball-bearing gun in Dartford.

Armed police officers stopped and arrested two teenagers in Stockport following reports that they had a gun (a BB gun was recovered).

A man was sentenced to six and half years in jail after threatening his former partner and two police officers with a BB gun in Congleton. Another man was sentenced to two years in jail for attacking homeless people in Chester with an imitation gun. A Coventry man who pled guilty to assault and making threats to kill had previously been sentenced to a year for possessing an imitation gun. Sentencing was deferred in the cases of two men who threatened police officers with imitation guns in separate incidents in Paisley and Glasgow.

Two men admitted affray after frightening passers-by in Carlisle with a paintball gun.

Airgun Incidents - Airguns were used in a number of the incidents reported in February 2006, including a high proportion of those from Scotland and Wales.

A mental health patient caused a scare with an air pistol at a hospital in Pembroke Dock and men were seen wielding air weapons in public in Malvern Link and Market Warsop.

A number of people and vehicles were hit in Llandrindod Wells, a man delivering beer was shot with an air rifle in Trevor, a six-year-old boy was taken to hospital when a bus window was smashed in South Queensferry and two boys were fired at and a man hit with an airgun pellet in Edinburgh.

A fire engine had to be taken out of service in Basildon after damage was caused by an air rifle, and an expensive stained glass window at a community hall in Cross Houses (Shropshire) was damaged when it was hit with a pellet.

Men appeared in court after incidents in Merthyr Tydfil (carrying a loaded air rifle in a bus station), two in Edinburgh (shooting a woman in the neck with an air rifle; firing at men working on the roof of flats - 15 months probation and 120 hours community service), in Kings Lynn (an air rifle was aimed at police - two men given 18 months in jail) and in Biddulph (a neighbour was threatened with an air rifle - 12 month supervision order). A man was convicted of murdering his landlord in Chard using a variety of weapons including an air rifle.

Animals - More animals were killed or badly injured by reckless shooting in February. There were reports of attacks on cats, dogs, a raven, an owl and a swan.

MARCH 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - A couple were shot dead in their flat in Upper Norwood (south London) and two men were killed and two others injured outside a pub in a shooting in Salford. A man was shot dead when he opened the door of a house in Point Clear (Essex). Another victim died in Drumchapel (Glasgow) a few months after he had apparently been the intended target of an earlier shooting in Glasgow.

In the West Midlands two stewards were shot and one was seriously injured during a concert at the NEC, a man was shot in the car park of a pub in Streetly, a man was shot in the street in Wolverhampton and two men were injured in a shooting incident in Chelmsley Wood.   A doorman was shot in the neck at a pub in Widnes, a man was shot when two men entered a house in Great Horton (West Yorkshire) and two men were shot at point-blank range in Greenock. A gunman was injured when the pistol he produced in a Hexham pub went off.

A blank cartridge was fired at the chest of a pensioner during a robbery in Crosland Moor (West Yorkshire).

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - In March there were reports of armed robberies and attempted robberies on shops in Frodsham (Cheshire), Charlton (south east London), Stapleford (Nottinghamshire) and Hastings (Sussex), an off licence in Redlam (Lancashire), post offices in Wereham (Norfolk) and Lewes (Sussex), banks in Hull (two separate raids, probably by the same man), betting shops in Hatfield (Hertfordshire) and Bourne End (Buckinghamshire), a travel agents in Luton, petrol stations in Coleshill and Corley (West Midlands) and Bacup (Lancashire) and a scrap dealers in Nechells (West Midlands).

A couple were robbed whilst sitting on the top deck of a bus in Norbury (south London) and three separate armed robberies have taken place on streets in south Buckinghamshire (Beaconsfield, Flackwell Heath, Hazlemere).

Three roadside hold-ups involving men armed with guns were reported: ovens were stolen from a lorry parked in a lay-by near South Witham (Lincolnshire), a couple resting in their camper at Detting Hill (Kent) were threatened by an armed gang and a snack bar was robbed near Taunton.

Members of two households were held at gunpoint in separate attacks in Leeds (Bramhope, Alwoodley).

Other Incidents -   Two men were arrested after a gun was fired outside a pub in Blackburn. A man was hit with a Taser gun and arrested by armed police in Glasgow after reports that he had a gun. A gunman attacked a house in Wishaw and a car parked in the driveway burst into flames.

A pub in East Grinstead has been closed after a string of incidents including one involving a firearm.

A firearm and ammunition were recovered by police from a property in Wisbech (Cambridgeshire), a man was arrested and a suspected illegal shotgun recovered after a domestic incident in Shildon (County Durham) and eleven people were being questioned by police in Northampton after a handgun was recovered.

Ram-raiders stole a number of weapons believed to be shotguns from a gun shop in St Albans (Hertfordshire).

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - Men were jailed for shooting offences that occurred in Wimbledon (12 years for shooting a man in the groin) and Wolverhampton (7 years for shooting two victims in the legs). A man was jailed for ten years for carrying out six armed robberies on banks and a post office in the Glasgow area. A woman caught with two loaded guns in a child's pushchair in Brixton received a two year jail sentence.

Imitation Guns - A pupil was suspended after threatening a teacher with a toy gun at a school near Norwich, an imitation gun was used during an attempted robbery in Burnley and man with a ball-bearing gun was arrested in Milford Haven when police investigated reports of a man brandishing a gun in a minibus.

A man was jailed for a year after threatening police officers with an imitation firearm when attempting to rescue his wife and dog from a house fire in Cheltenham and another for three-and-a-half years after he threatened a driver in Bolton and then hit him with an imitation gun. A film director was fined after armed police had been called to an unauthorised film set in Borough which involved a replica weapon. A woman was sentenced to an 18-month community order after being spotted with an imitation gun in Morden.

Airgun Incidents - A number of people were hit by airgun pellets during March. A police officer was shot with an airgun in Sheffield, a teenage boy was lucky to escape serious injury after being hit in Old Tupton (Derbyshire), a man suffered a fractured cheekbone when he was shot in South Shields (Tyneside), a woman needed surgery to remove a pellet from her neck after four people were shot at in Taunton, a teenage girl was injured in the leg in Upavon (Wiltshire) (the shot may have been fired from an airgun), three people were hit by an airgun sniper in Ibrox (Glasgow) and a goalkeeper was shot at during a soccer game in Holbrooks (West Midlands).

It was reported that an airgun had been fired by a boy at a couple in Strood at the start of a long running campaign of racist abuse.

A classroom window was smashed by a shot at a school in Bruton, damage has been caused to windows in a number of attacks in Hurstpierpoint (Sussex) and an air rifle has been used during a spate of vandalism in Kintbury (Berkshire).

Airguns were seized when police raided homes in Merseyside in a campaign against teenage gun gangs.

Men appeared in court after incidents in Carlisle (firing at a street sign; bound over to keep the peace for 12 months) and Lochore (Fife) (shooting a teenage girl; six years jail). A man convicted last month of shooting a woman with an air rifle in Edinburgh was jailed for 32 months.

APRIL 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - In April a number of men lost their lives as a result of gunshot wounds. Four men were killed in shootings in London (Brockley, Battersea, East Finchley (the victim was also stabbed), Hackney and another in Castlebeck (Sheffield). A man died in hospital after being shot in Anfield (Liverpool), though the circumstances surrounding his shooting are uncertain. Four men died in Scotland (in Cumbernauld, Edinburgh, East Calder and Duntocher (Glasgow), two of whom were shot with airguns (see below). Arrests have been made in connection with a number of these deaths.

Another man died after taking a gun to a club in Kirkintilloch but it appears that his death was not from gunshot wounds.

Shooting incidents that resulted in injuries, a number of which were serious, occurred in Salford, Shiregreen (Sheffield), Hackney, Bracknell, Manchester (two separate shootings on the same evening), Huddersfield, Mangotsfield (Gloucestershire), Orsett (Essex), Cumbernauld and Merthyr Tydfil. A second man was injured in an incident in a pub in Edinburgh in which another was killed. A police officer received minor injuries when he was shot in Brixton.

A 4-year-old girl was injured by shattered glass from a car window after being caught up in a drive-by shooting in Hackney, and a 2-year-old girl was hit during a shooting in Old Trafford (Manchester).

A boy in Burnley was injured by an explosive device which police have classed as a firearm. Three men have been arrested.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - During armed raids on houses couples were robbed in Curbar (Derbyshire) and Ranmoor (Sheffield), and a man had a gun forced into his mouth during a robbery at his mother's flat in South Croydon. A man fired a shot after bursting into a house in Drumchapel (Glasgow) but no one was injured.

Robberies and attempted robberies involving gunmen occurred on shops in Runcorn (a boy of 10 was made to lie down on the floor), Melton Mowbray, Long Stratton (Norfolk - the victim was also made to withdraw money from a cashpoint) and Balornock (Glasgow) (a shot was fired, but no one was injured), off-licences in Leominster and Coundon (Coventry), a restaurant in Brundall (Norfolk), bookmakers in Avenham (Preston - two arrests made) and Beaumont Leys (Leicester), a pub in Stratford-upon-Avon, a funeral parlour in Burnley and petrol stations in Marston Green (Birmingham - a gun was fired in the air) and Penge. Security guards were robbed outside a supermarket in Ashford (Kent - shots may have been fired). Police apprehended men following raids on banks in Wotton-under-Edge (Gloucestershire) and Ashton (Preston).

Other Incidents - Shots were fired at houses in Sheldon and Erdington in Birmingham, Norris Green in Liverpool, Wallington and North Cheam (Surrey - a man has appeared in court), and Germiston in Glasgow.

A man was arrested after threatening people outside a pub in Westbury (Wiltshire). Nine arrests were made after stolen guns were found by police in Oxford. A Whitehaven man was charged with possessing a firearm (a handgun) with intent to cause another man to believe that unlawful violence would be used against him or another and a woman from Netherley (Merseyside) was arrested on suspicion of possession of a gun. A man was arrested after a sawn-off shotgun and class A drugs were found in Croxteth (Merseyside).

Armed police swooped on a bus in Ilford and wrestled with a youth seen carrying what looked like an automatic pistol.

Nine people have been arrested in Greater Manchester by police investigating a series of shootings.

Two unarmed men were arrested after pretending to have a gun in the centre of Swindon.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - Men were sentenced after being convicted for charges relating to a robbery and possession of a firearm in Aberkenfig (5 years), a robbery at a Kilmarnock home (sentence deferred), handling a stolen assault rifle (a soldier sentenced to 7 years, 4 months by a court martial), two raids on building societies in Nottingham (life sentence following previous convictions), manslaughter for the accidental shooting of a friend in Birmingham (8 years), grievous bodily harm with intent and a firearms-related offence after two men were shot in Upchurch (Kent) (sentencing deferred). A woman was sentenced to five years in jail for keeping an illegal handgun.

A number of trials are on-going, including those of a man charged with the illegal possession of a number of guns, including six handguns, four men charged with offences relating to an armed robbery in Newport and a bungled raid on a security van in central London.

Imitation Guns - In comparison to recent months there were few reports of new incidents involving imitation guns. Although it seems likely that some of the unidentified guns used in some of the other reported incidents may have been imitations, GCN hopes that this reduction will be sustained and is the result of people heeding the warnings about the dangers of using imitation guns in public.

A man was detained by armed police after entering a pub in Totton (Southampton) with a blank-firing imitation handgun, and a weapon believed to be a ball-bearing gun was discharged by a motorist in Hempnall (Norfolk).

Three men received sentences for offences which included the use of imitation guns. One had pointed an imitation gun at a police officer's head in Camborne (2 years at a young offenders' institution), another had committed a serious sexual assault on two young boys who were threatened with an imitation pistol in Spalding (at least 6 years in jail) and the third man had committed a series of attacks in Wigan while on the run after threatening the police with an imitation handgun when they came to arrest him (to serve at least 20 years).

Airgun Incidents (see also Incidents Involving Animals) - In contrast to the smaller number of incidents with imitation guns in April 2006, the month was a particularly bad one for incidents with airguns, including two fatal shootings. These weapons can be lethal and should be regulated appropriately.

The two fatal shootings both took place in Scotland, in East Calder and Duntocher. Police have made arrests in connection with both incidents.

There were other airgun attacks which left the victims injured. In Scotland a schoolgirl was shot in the head as she queued at an ice cream van in Coatbridge and two pedestrians were attacked in Inverness. There were also three incidents in Wales: a nine-year-old boy was hit in Bridgend after an air rifle was fired from a window, a great-grandmother was shot in the arm in Porthcawl and a teenager was shot in the head in woods in Cardiff. Two clubbers were shot in Torquay and a 14-year-old boy was hit whilst camping in Freston (Suffolk). The police sealed off a street in Stockton whilst they were searching for a man said to be in possession of an air-rifle type weapon - a family member had been shot.

A 15-year-old girl lost the sight in one eye after being hit in the face with an airgun pellet in Middlesbrough.

Durham Police reported nine alerts involving air weapons over just one weekend.

Two men have been charged after houses were raided by police in Workington and three air rifles recovered. A man was arrested in a hotel in St Davids after allegedly making threats on his girlfriend's life: an air pistol was found.

The window of Whelley (Wigan) pensioner was shattered by an air rifle pellet and a number of windows of the parish rooms of a Colne church were fired at.

A man was given an 18 month jail sentence for recklessly discharging a firearm, possibly an air pistol, in a bar in Edinburgh. Another was jailed for 12 months after threatening his girl friend and her mother with an air pistol in Accrington. A teenager pleaded guilty to shooting a female police officer with an airgun as she investigated a burglary in Carshalton. Another teenager, who fired an air rifle at two pupils in the grounds of a school in Aspatria, was given an Asbo.

A man from Church Village in Wales had his air rifle confiscated after a domestic row.

A Purley man was given a two-year conditional discharge for not having a licence for a gas-powered air rifle.

Incidents Involving Animals - GCN heard from correspondents in Kensal Green and Ellesmere Port about airgun attacks suffered by their cats. Sadly they were not alone in having to deal with the aftermath of an airgun attack on their pets. There were media reports from Beccles, Langley (Warwickshire), Hartlepool and Hoddesdon describing other injuries sustained by cats as a result of being shot with an air weapon.

Swans which had been shot with airguns were discovered in Doncaster and Oswestry. A rare avocet was found dead near Immingham with a likely airgun wound to its neck.

A number of gun attacks on farm animals were reported - sheep or lambs killed in Kent, Dumfriesshire and Sutherland.

MAY 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - Victims died after shooting incidents in Leeds, Hornchurch and Marsden (Tyneside).

A man was left fighting for his life after a shooting at a pub in Walthamstow (north east London) and another man was shot in the leg at a pub in Folkestone. Gunshot injuries were also inflicted on victims in incidents near Liverpool Airport, in Atherton (Wigan), in Peckham (three men shot), in Tividale (West Midlands), in East Howdon (Tyneside - two men injured), in a double shooting in Islington and Finsbury Park (north London) for which a man has been arrested, in Catford (south London) and in Cardiff. Security guards were shot and injured during raids in Swadlincote (Derbyshire) and Kilmarnock. Police in Glasgow shot and injured a man after an armed response team was called to an armed robbery on a shop.

A man was hit on the head and threatened with a handgun in Hastings.

In separate incidents two men from the Isle of Wight apparently committed suicide by shooting themselves. An armed man shot himself, and later died, whilst his car was surrounded by armed police in Skelmersdale.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - Robberies and attempted robberies involving gunmen occurred at a hotel in Chepstow, on pubs in Coventry and Blakey Moor (Lancashire), on shops in Norwich, Swadlincote (Derbyshire) (in which a security guard was injured), Bromsgrove, Blackburn (where the same man is believed to have struck six times in two months), Dundee and Glasgow (Gorbals and Mount Florida where a man was shot by police following the incident), on service stations in Taunton (two men arrested), Birchencliffe (West Yorkshire) and Mexborough (South Yorkshire), on banks or building societies in Colchester, Streatham (a security guard wrestled a pistol from the robber) and Kilmarnock (a security guard was shot), on a security van delivering cash in Fishponds (Bristol) and on post offices in Beadnell (Northumberland), Ryton-on-Dunsmore (Warwickshire) and Cardiff (in which an imitation gun was possibly used).

The car used by armed raiders in Swadlincote (see above) was stolen from a woman in Warwick at gunpoint, and an armed man stole a car from a male driver in Blackley (Manchester). A van driver was threatened with a gun by a teenager who was stealing a satellite navigation system from his van in Middlesbrough. A woman in a car was robbed at gunpoint as she picked up her son from school in Leeds.

Other Incidents - A woman was threatened on her doorstep in Hartley Wintney (Hampshire) by a man who fired a gun and ran off. Two men were arrested in Liverpool after a people carrier had been shot at. Houses were fired at in Middleton (Greater Manchester)

A woman has been charged and a man arrested in relation to possession of a firearm following a police pursuit on the M4 in Berkshire. Two people were charged with possession of an offensive firearm after British Transport Police set up metal airport-style detectors at Luton railway station.

Two men were arrested after police found a holdall containing a number of handguns, silencers and ammunition in a car in Kentish Town (north London).

Armed police surrounded an address in Harrogate after reports of someone being threatened with a handgun. A Combe Martin (Devon) man sparked an armed police response when he went missing taking a rifle with him. A 13-year-old girl from Cosham (Hampshire) was charged with a firearm offence.

Nightclub Shootings - In May there were a number of serious shooting incidents linked to nightclubs. A man died after a shooting at a nightclub in Leeds, three men were shot inside and outside a club in Peckham (south London), a woman was shot outside a club in Catford (also in south London) and a teenager was injured at a Cardiff nightclub.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A man was jailed for 11 years for manslaughter after he fired a gun as his brother was being attacked in Newtown (Birmingham). A teenager was jailed for 9 years after a raid on a shop in Abbey Wood (south London) in which he was armed with an imitation gun. A man was jailed for 10 years for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life in Preston, another was told he was likely to receive a life sentence after pleading guilty to robbery and having a firearm after an armed raid in Surbiton. An army veteran was jailed for 8 years after admitting possession of a rifle with intent to endanger life, cause fear or violence and resist arrest after an incident in Harehills (Leeds). A man out on license from a prison sentence for assault, robbery and firearms offences was jailed for 10 years after he had fired a shotgun in a home in Kelty (Fife). Sentencing was deferred on a man who aimed at shotgun at two police officers in Cumbernauld.

A man was jailed for 5 years for having a prohibited weapon after he had shot himself accidentally with a home-made gun near Wrexham.

A man was convicted of trying to smuggle handguns and a submachine gun into Britain.

Imitation Guns - A boy was banned from his school bus to Oundle after firing a replica pistol, and a driver was shot with a ball-bearing gun on a bus in Gosport. A ball-bearing gun may have been fired at the windscreen of a taxi carrying passengers in Harwich. In Edinburgh three men were arrested following separate incidents involving replica guns within 12 hours. In another incident a BB gun was held to the head of an employee at a homeless hostel in Leith.

There was more evidence of the use of imitation guns in major criminal activity with the conviction of a teenager for robbery and possessing an imitation firearm with intent after a raid on a shop in Abbey Wood (south London) (sentenced to 9 years in jail) and the jailing for life of a man for a string of brutal robberies on bookmakers in Bury and Uxbridge (he received a concurrent 5 year sentence for possessing an imitation firearm). Another man was jailed for four years after threatening to shoot two police officers in Abergele with what turned out to be an imitation gun.

A crackdown on vandals has been launched in parts of Carlisle where ball-bearing guns have been fired indiscriminately in the street and at windows and passing cars.

Police found replica and decommissioned firearms in a car in Plymouth and arrested four people on suspicion of burglary.

Airgun Incidents (see also Incidents Involving Animals) - Another youngster suffered a serious injury as a result of an airgun attack - a 16-year-old girl may never be able to see again properly after she was hit in the face in Hylton (Sunderland). A 16-year-old boy was shot in the neck in Llandudno (a 15-year-old was being questioned). A security guard in Nelson (Lancashire) was shot in the arm with an air rifle, a man was shot in the hand in Batley (West Yorkshire) while in Lancaster a man and a teenager were both hit in separate but possibly related air rifle attacks. A woman in Aberdeen was hit in the back as she walked along a road.

An airgun sniper took potshots from a window in Leith, causing chaos to traffic and pedestrians in the area. A couple walking on Hastings seafront heard a shot from an air rifle and saw a man reloading the gun at a window. Airguns were fired during a disturbance by youths in Rugby. A South Shields teenager was arrested after he brandished an airgun outside his bedroom window. A gang fired airgun pellets at and into a house in Aspley (Nottingham) and the window of a takeaway was cracked in Ipswich.

Youngsters found an air rifle wrapped in a black plastic bag on a golf course in Renfrewshire.

The trial was taking place of a 15-year-old boy charged with manslaughter - a year earlier he had shot his 12-year-old friend in the head with his father's air rifle at his home in Conisbrough. A 17-year-old from Whitehaven was sent to a young offenders institution for four months for offences including having an air rifle in a public place. A Norwich man admitted affray after leaving his home with an air rifle after an argument.   A man from Cleator Moor (Cumbria) was given 30 days after admitting possession of an air rifle when banned for five years.

Incidents Involving Animals - There were many reports of the damage that airgun attacks can have on pets (GCN noted 12 newspaper reports in May relating to attacks on cats) and the distress this causes to the animals and their owners.

Two incidents were reported from the West Country in which gulls were shot with air rifles. In one a prosecution was brought by the RSPCA against a man in Dartmouth for intentionally killing a wild bird - he was given a conditional discharge. The RSPCA are appealing for information after a herring gull survived an airgun attack in Newquay.

A rare hen harrier is believed to have been shot and killed in Northumberland.

JUNE 2006 - SUMMARY

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In June 2006 there were a large number of reports of incidents involving airguns and imitation guns. A number of injuries resulted from the airgun incidents, including four sustained by young people. GCN is in no doubt that these types of weapon are still too easily available and that further controls are essential.

Gun Deaths and Injuries - Fatal shooting incidents occurred in Sheffield and Salford (a double shooting in which the teenager responsible shot himself and died later)

Guns were used in apparent suicides in Whitstable and Salford (see above)

The police shot and injured a man in Forest Gate during a raid on the property by the anti-terrorist squad.

A policeman was shot whilst carrying out surveillance in Leytonstone. Gun injuries were also sustained by victims in incidents in Sheffield (in which another man was fatally wounded), Manchester (in Ardwick two teenagers were shot in the street, and men were injured in Longsight, Bradford and Rusholme), in the West Midlands (Edgbaston, Newtown, Castle Bromwich), Bradford (three men injured), Cambridge, Brixton (in which a boy of 16 was left fighting for his life), Benwell (Tyneside), Ayr and Glasgow (two men shot at a kebab shop).

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - Robberies and attempted robberies involving gunmen occurred at banks in Dartford and Hazlemere, petrol stations at High Beach (Essex) and Chorley, a supermarket in Gosforth, a newsagents in Craigentinny and a showroom in Hatfield. A security van was targeted in Lichfield.

Other Incidents - Three girls were threatened with a gun in Coventry and a man was threatened with a double-barrelled shotgun in Colehill. A man pointed a rifle at two people in a park in Edinburgh

Five police officers were shot at with a shotgun in Camberwell (London). A hooded gunman fired four shots at a front door in South Norwood, two men shot at a car in Walton-on-Thames and another car was hit when shots were fired at a Glasgow home. The police found a bullet hole after stopping a car in Tooting. Shots were fired during a high speed chase through Banks (Lancashire). One man was probably responsible for both firing a sawn-off shotgun outside a Leeds nightclub and blasting out the windows of two houses. Armed patrols were put on streets in Nottingham after three incidents in which shots were fired.

Police Raids - A pensioner from North Wales was arrested after what may be one of the biggest weapons seizures made in the UK.

Guns were recovered in police raids in Middlesbrough, Manchester (Longsight, Fallowfield) and Soham.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A woman was convicted of the murder of her husband in a shotgun shooting in Southampton.

Two men were jailed (for 11 and 3 years) for possession of ammunition and firearm offences following a police raid in Hackney. A gang of armed robbers received lengthy jail terms for a series of raids in London and south east England involving real and imitation guns in 2005. A man was jailed for 14 months for illegal possession of a firearm and bullets which were found in his car in Cleland and another was sentenced to six years and nine months for threatening two police officers with a shotgun in Cumbernauld. Two men were jailed (for 11 and a half and 10 years) for an armed raid on a house in Newport when they were armed with shotguns.

Stolen and Lost Guns - Police are searching for a man in connection with several burglaries including one in Redwell in which firearms were stolen. Ball-bearing guns may have been stolen from a garage in County Durham. Two air rifles were stolen from a house in Telford.

A stun gun was lost from the roof of his patrol car by a police officer in East Sussex.

Airguns - A woman was very seriously injured when she was shot by her son who was having a target practice session with an air rifle in their garden near Henley.

Several young people were targeted in airgun attacks. A teenage girl was shot in Banbury, a 7-year-old girl was shot as she played at her school near Rotherham, a 14-year-old boy was hit in Wotton-under-Edge and a young boy was injured in Southsea (a fellow pupil has been arrested).

Three people were injured after a series of shootings in Trowbridge (5 people arrested), a van driver was hit in Gateshead, a woman was shot in Shipdham (Norfolk), shots have been fired at people in Penhill (Wiltshire), a man was hit in the eye whilst driving through Barnstaple and a woman was shot in Folkestone. A man was shot in a Glasgow pub with what was believed to have been an airgun, a woman was hit as she sunbathed in her garden in Stevenston and a cyclist was shot in Duddingston. An elderly man was nearly hit by an air rifle pellet in Amble (Northumberland).

Five men were arrested for firing airguns in Cramlington and there were two reports involving airguns in the Mansfield area.

A man admitted in court that he had brandished an airgun at two neighbours in Rossendale, an Alexandria man convicted of a number of assaults on young boys admitted shooting one on the leg with an air rifle (jailed for eight years) and another man was jailed for six years for an assault in Maybole which involved an airgun.

A man was described as irresponsible by police for carrying his son's airgun in public.

Imitation Guns - School pupils were responsible for firing BB guns at a firefighter in Porthmadog and at a woman in an office in Chislehurst.

Imitation guns were fired at cars in Weston-super-Mare. A West Lothian teacher was threatened by a 15-year-old with a pellet gun

There were a number of instances in which people (mostly youths) sparked armed responses because members of the public became concerned by seeing weapons in public places or at windows of properties. There were reports of such incidents in Biggleswade, Halewood (Merseyside), Bedworth, Belsize Park (north London) and Edinburgh. A man was arrested for possession of imitation guns with intent to cause fear of violence after incidents in Nottingham

Two special constables received merit certificates for disarming a man in Bradford who had a gas powered ball-bearing gun.

Two men were convicted of using imitation guns during attempted robberies in Norwich (one resulted in two years custody, the other in conditional bail). A teenager admitted shooting and injuring another teenager in Keighley with a BB gun. An RAF serviceman was jailed for three years after using a pellet gun in a bank raid in Rothes.

A man was fined £500 for "messing around" with a ball-bearing gun in Preston, another pleaded guilty to wasting police time after an incident in a street in Wallsend. Three friends admitted cruising around Flintshire firing a BB gun out of their car.

Incidents Involving Animals - There were more reports about injuries to animals in June. Most frequently they described the targeting of cats with airguns, but there were reports of a horse that had been shot and of a brutal attack on a swan.

JULY 2006 - SUMMARY

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For June 2006 we listed a large number of reports of incidents involving airguns and imitation guns and a number of injuries resulting from the airgun incidents, including four sustained by young people. Sadly the same is apparent from the list compiled for July 2006, and GCN repeats its view that these types of weapon are still too easily available and that further controls are essential.

Gun Deaths and Injuries - Four members of the same family were shot dead at a house in Newcastle. Other fatal shooting incidents occurred in Bermondsey (south east London), Wembley (north London - an 18-year-old has been arrested), Aintree (Liverpool) and Moss Side and Droylsden (Manchester) (the latter was a double shooting in which a woman survived but her husband then shot himself)

Guns were used in apparent suicides in Droylsden (see above) and Penllergaer (Swansea).

Victims suffered shooting injuries in incidents in Nottingham, King's Lynn, London (Hackney, Forest Gate, Kennington), Foleshill (Coventry), Wolverhampton, Garston (Liverpool), Hastings, Rotherham and Glasgow (two separate incidents).

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - Robberies and attempted robberies involving gunmen occurred at an off licence in Coventry (a replica handgun was used), a bookmakers in Hemel Hempstead (the latest in a series of raids in Hertfordshire), a bank in Standish (Lancashire), a building society in Stalham (Norfolk) and a petrol station in Bishop's Stortford. A security van was held up in Greenhithe, Kent.

Other Incidents - A group of youths threatened a boy on a street in Nelson. Three gun incidents were reported to have occurred in Wolverhampton. A man was arrested after a shooting incident in Coventry. A man fired three shots outside a pub in Huddersfield. Bullets were fired into three cars in Sutton Coldfield and shots were fired at houses in Wigan and Springburn (Glasgow) and shots were fired in a street in Abertillery and a hole made in the window of a house. Gunshots were reported in Highfields (Leicester) and a man was seen carrying a gun a gun and a knife in Wythenshaw.

Police Raids - Guns were recovered in raids in Whitley Bay, North Manchester and Wednesfield (West Midlands).

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A man was jailed for 9 years for manslaughter after he assisted a friend who shot dead his ex-girlfriend and then killed himself in South Yorkshire.

One man and a youth were given custodial sentences for a series of armed raids on shops in the Nottingham area. A Norwich man was jailed for five years for terrifying staff at the benefit offices when he was armed with two guns and other weapons.

A man whose car was stopped in Glasgow was jailed for five year for possession of a revolver found in the car. His passenger was jailed for having live ammunition at his Barrhead home.

A man was given a six months suspended sentence for possessing three prohibited pistols.

The Provenance of Crime Guns - Two trials that concluded in July resulted in long jail sentences for a number of men involved in the provision of guns to criminals. Five men were given sentences of between 11 years six months and 20 years for smuggling illegal weapons from Lithuania into the UK. They were caught in Trafford, Manchester. A UK-based source of weaponry, which involved many more guns, was highlighted by the conviction of three men involved in the conversion of hundreds of replica guns, blank-firing pistols and airguns in an enterprise based in various locations in London. They were given sentences of between 7 and 22 years. Two other men were already in jail for running a gun conversion factory.

A cache of 38 air rifles was stolen from the back of a wagon in Macclesfield and guns were among items stolen from a home in Stourport-on-Severn. A shotgun and two deactivated guns were stolen from a house in Windsor. Two thousand shotgun cartridges were stolen from a gun club in Gorebridge. Midlothian.

Airguns - See The Provenance of Crime Guns (above) A 13-year-old lost the sight of one eye when shot at close range with an airgun in Kennington (south London). An 18-year-old woman was nearly blinded when she was shot in an attack in Ripon. A schoolboy was reported to be lucky to be alive after he was hit in the skull by an airgun pellet in Wakefield. A 9-year-old girl was hit with an airgun pellet in Bicester. A 15-year-old shot himself in the eye while playing with an air rifle in Wickford.

A police officer was hit when a man fired an airgun from a house in Clifton, Nottingham.   In Jaywick (Essex) a woman was hit in the face with an airgun pellet. A grandmother was shot in the face in her garden in Whitehaven. Two men were injured in an airgun attack in Sheffield and a police officer who attended the incident was also shot at. A woman was shot, probably with an airgun, in a Carlisle car park. Two people were hit by air rifle pellets in Llanelli.

An air pistol was used in an attack on a taxi driver in Coulsdon. Two supermarket chains have banned home deliveries to districts in Edinburgh after a series of attacks including one in which an air rifle was fired at a van.

A train window was broken in Huddersfield and a driver was shot at with an air rifle in Gloucester (15-year-old arrested and cautioned). Windows were broken in an airgun attack on an OAP centre in Denaby and there were three reports of airguns fired at property in the Driffield area.

A man hired to threaten a Liverpool man had an air pistol in the boot of his car (jailed for three and a half years). A man was jailed indefinitely after an incident at his home in Great Cornard which involved an air weapon (Suffolk).

A Swindon man who terrorised his neighbours, including aiming an airgun at people, has been evicted.

A 15-year-old youth who killed his friend with his father's air rifle in Conisborough was released when a jury failed to reach a verdict.

Imitation Guns - See The Provenance of Crime Guns (above)

A woman was hit with a pellet from a BB gun in Eastbourne (13-year-old arrested). A man received eye injuries when he was shot with a BB gun at point-blank range in Plymouth.

A 17-year-old shot at two men with a BB gun from a car in Fleet (Hampshire)

People carrying imitation guns in public caused alarms in Newcastle and Dukinfield (Tameside)

Two teenage boys were sentenced to supervision after firing a BB gun at children at a school in Rotherham. A 17-year-old admitted shooting a 10-year-old boy with a BB gun in Perth.

A man was jailed for five years after a blank-firing replica gun had been found in his rucksack in Bellshill whilst he was attempting to steal metal. Another man was jailed for five and half year for attempting to hold up a bank in Glasgow using a toy gun.

Incidents Involving Animals - There were more reports of injuries to animals in July which followed the same depressing pattern as recent months. Once again the most frequently described incidents were the targeting of cats with airguns, but there were further reports of attacks on swans and other birds (three doves and a pigeon in a Norfolk beauty spot, a female peregrine falcon in the Derwent Valley). A family's dog was killed in the back garden of the family home in Birmingham and there was a horrific attack on a dog who was tied up and used for target practice in woods near Bathgate. In the vast majority of cases the weapon used was an airgun.

AUGUST 2006 - SUMMARY

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Airgun Complacency Must End

No one should doubt that airguns can be dangerous weapons, and tragically their lethality was evident again this month when a 12-year-old boy died after being shot whilst "playing" with two friends. It has also been suggested in one newspaper that the weapon used to kill a London man, who was attacked by a gang of youths, was also an airgun.

Anyone who looks through the list of the gun incidents reported in August (as well as those for the previous two months this summer) ought to be worried by the number and nature of attacks involving airguns and question whether the legislation covering the ownership and use of these weapons is adequate. In GCN's view the current law and the legislation proposed in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill fail to provide the general public with appropriate protection against the continued misuse of airguns, especially by youngsters.

Airgun attacks are not confined to major urban areas and affect neighbourhoods all over Great Britain. People are being injured and threatened, pets and other animals continue to be maimed and killed.

GCN believes that not only should the sale of airguns be more tightly regulated, as proposed in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill, but that nothing short of the registration of all potentially lethal guns, including air weapons, is needed to ensure that these dangerous weapons are kept out of the wrong hands, especially those of young people.

Gun Deaths and Injuries - A teenager was shot dead inside a nightclub in King's Cross (London), a man was killed when he was shot through the window of his Glasgow home, a teenager was shot dead outside a prison in Merseyside where he had been meeting a friend and an east London man was killed when he was shot by a gang of youths (one report suggests that the weapon used was an airgun). A 12-year-old boy lost his life in an airgun incident in Stoke-on-Trent.

A man was shot and injured when a police armed unit responded to an alert outside a school in Rugeley.

Two men were hurt in a drive-by shooting in Bolton and a man was shot in the stomach whilst he was holding a baby in Huyton (Merseyside). A man was seriously injured in a shooting in Bradford, another victim was shot in the leg as he sat in his car in Sheffield and two men were injured during a disturbance involving guns in Leeds. In the London area two people were seriously injured in a shooting in North Wembley and two teenagers were hurt in attacks at a street festival in Battersea. In Greater Manchester, a toddler was injured when a parked truck was fired at in Miles Platting (the child was in the cab) and a man was injured in a shooting incident in Moss Side.

Two teenagers who were injured in Norris Green (Merseyside) may have shot themselves while playing with a small gun that resembled a pen.

A man was hit with a stun gun fired by a teenager in a shopping centre in Bath.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies or attempted robberies involving guns at a bank in Stanley (Co. Durham), during cash deliveries at supermarkets in Wakefield and Sunderland, at petrol stations in Park Street (Hertfordshire) and Longwell Green (Gloucestershire), at post offices in Cuddington (Cheshire) and Henlow (Bedfordshire), a DIY store in Stoke-on-Trent and other shops (including off licences) in Ashtead (Surrey), Coventry (two separate raids), Benfleet in Essex, Swindon (a jewellers), at betting shops in Tyneside, Tilehurst (Berkshire), Nuneaton, Coventry and north London (one man raided four premises on the same day), at a travel agents in Tyneside, at a chip shop in Rusholme (Greater Manchester), at pubs in Dundee and Coventry and at hotels in Dundee, Hertfordshire, Essex and Kent. A couple staying at a hotel near Newquay were robbed. Two men carried out an armed robbery at Sydenham station in south London during which a worker was injured.

In separate incidents in Greater London thieves stole large sums of cash from men who were attempting to purchase a motorbike in Bermondsey and a car in Dagenham.

A woman was robbed of her car at gunpoint on a garage forecourt in Bradford and a man was kidnapped by armed men in Newcastle-under-Lyne and driven around Staffordshire for ten hours before being dumped and his car taken. Two reporters from Nottingham were the victims of an attempted hold up in a taxi.

Two armed robbers stole cash from a home in Cambridgeshire where they threatened the owners with a gun. Three men, one armed with a gun, robbed a man and his friends in Welham Green (Hertfordshire). A gunman confronted an elderly couple in their home in Hyndland (Glasgow).

A group of teenagers was threatened by two men with a gun in a street in Muswell Hill.

Other Incidents - A gun battle was fought between two gangs of youths in Moss Side (Manchester). Gunshots were fired in a street in Handsworth (Birmingham) and a man fired a rifle over the heads of clubbers in Barrow. A shop customer was threatened with a gun in Mitcham (south London) and a van driver by a man armed with a handgun at a caravan park in Hertfordshire.

Police recovered a firearm when arresting a man in Northampton.

Two boys were charged after being seen with a gun at a supermarket in Bearsden.

Stolen Weapons - There were a number of reports of guns being stolen: in Tonypandy (an air rifle), Lydd in Kent (paintball pistols and rifles), Nonington in Kent (a shotgun with a defective firing mechanism) and Whitfield Village (Northumberland) (three guns and ammunition). Two firearms were stolen from a police armed response vehicle in Stockton but were recovered shortly afterwards and a man arrested.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - Long jail sentences were given to men responsible for two multiple murders in north London. A minimum of 40 years in jail was given to a man for a triple murder in Harlesden, in which two sisters and their step father were tied up and shot in the head. A second man received a minimum of 20 years in jail for the same offences. Another man was given a minimum 40 year jail sentence for a double murder in Kensal Green in which a 7-year-old girl was one of the victims.

A man was found guilty of manslaughter after shooting dead his female neighbour with a legally-owned shotgun in Audley (Staffordshire): Staffordshire Police commented that they had "no evidence that he was anything but a responsible person who was suitable to possess guns".

A teenager was jailed indefinitely for shooting a man in the face in Sheffield. A man who fired a shotgun at his former partner's mother in Gunnislake (Cornwall) was jailed for at least four years. A drugs dealer from Ladbroke Grove (west London) was jailed for 14 years for drugs and firearms offences.

Airguns - A 12-year-old boy from Stoke-on-Trent died after being shot in the eye: two other boys, also aged 12, may have been involved. Following another fatal incident, one report has suggested that the victim of a shooting in Canning Town (east London) was also shot with an airgun.

An 11-month old baby was hit in the face with an airgun pellet at home in Uddingston (an 11-year-old boy has been reported to the children's panel) and a seven-year-old boy was shot whilst cycling in Poole. Two teenagers were injured in an airgun shooting in Liverpool. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg as she walked along a street in Rochdale. A teenager received head injures from an air rifle during a disturbance in Rochester (five male teenagers arrested). In Ilkeston a man was shot in the chest on his doorstep by a gang of youths (two girls arrested). A man was shot in the face with an air rifle pellet in Sheffield and a van driver hit in the arm in Swansea. A binman in Preston was injured when he was shot whilst collecting rubbish. A woman member of a bowls club in Telford was hit on the arm with an airgun pellet, and a man needed surgery after being hit in the face whilst walking in Marlborough. A jogger was knocked to the ground when an air rifle was fired at him from a car in Crystal Palace (south London). Four teenagers were injured by airgun pellets in an incident in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, just days after the death of the 12-year-old (two men and a woman arrested). A woman was shot during a domestic incident in Morpeth.

A holidaymaker was shot at with an airgun in Pembrokeshire. Families on an estate in Norwich were terrorised by a gang armed with an air rifle. Three air weapons were recovered by police when they arrested a man on suspicion of making threats to kill in South Shields.

A fire engine was hit in an attack on firefighters in Dundee and a train driver was targeted with an air rifle in Wales. Passers-by were fired at with an airgun in Bristol.

Three men were arrested after an air rifle was fired in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and a boy and an woman were arrested in Sunderland after reports of a man seen waving a gun.

An airgun pellet may have been responsible for piercing a house window in Leyland. Armed police were called to a house in Brownsover where numerous airgun pellets had been fired, smashing windows. A family's Bournemouth home was attacked with an airgun.

Two men were responsible for an alert when they were seen with a gun (an air pistol) in a field near Coventry. A man was arrested at Glasgow Airport after an air pistol was found.

A man who shot himself in the hand with a modified airgun whilst confronting another man in a Hexham pub was jailed for five years. A man who pulled an airgun twice on a boy in Tilehurst (Berkshire) was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment. A conditional discharge was given to man after he had been found on a golf course in Eastbourne holding an air rifle.

A teenager was given community service after admitting that he shot a man who was holding a baby in Aberdeen. A man was jailed for 12 months after firing an air rifle outside a house in Newtongrange (Edinburgh) whilst drunk, and another admitted shooting a woman in the arm with an air rifle in Bellshill. Two men told a court that they had taken potshots with an airgun at strangers in Perth.

Imitation Guns - A number of children were hit by pellets fired from ball-bearing guns during August. A boy was shot by a teenager in Hove, another boy needed hospital treatment when he was shot with a replica gun in Hanley and a seven-year-old and a toddler were hit by pellets in separate incidents in Whitby. A man was shot in the back with a BB gun when he was walking in Portsmouth.

A community support officer in Hampshire was shot at with an imitation gun.

A clubber was arrested on suspicion of having an imitation gun inside a Blackburn club. A young Scottish footballer has admitted having a gas-powered handgun in his car and been charged with being in possession of a loaded firearm.

There were more alerts sparked by youths playing with imitation guns in public places: incidents occurred in Brookmans Park (Hertfordshire), Hampshire (as a result of which the police have issued another warning about imitation firearms), Shanklin (a 13-year-old boy is reported to have been injured), Weston-super-Mare (five men were arrested), Cheshunt and Stamford (three teenagers were arrested).

Vandals with BB guns have damaged a number of cars in the Wyre Forest district

A man was jailed for 21 months following an incident in which he had produced a ball-bearing gun at a hospital in Leigh. Another man faces the prospect of a jail sentence after being found guilty of threatening a motorist with an imitation gun in Ipswich. A man who attempted to rob a shop in Lancaster whilst armed with an imitation gun was jailed for at least three-and-a-half years. A woman who held a ball-bearing gun to a neighbour's face in Brixton was given a 200-hour community punishment order.

A man has admitted wounding a woman cyclist in north Fife with a gas-powered ball-bearing gun and a teenager from Irvine appeared in court accused of firing a pellet gun at a toddler's head.

A man who waved a toy gun at police officers in Bamber Bridge (Lancashire) was given a suspended 6 month jail sentence.

Incidents Involving Animals - There were more reports of the harm caused to cats by airgun snipers. A pet dog was shot with an airgun in Carlisle.

A horse and a pony were victims of an airgun attack near Loftus in Cleveland.

A swan rescued in Whitby harbour was found to have been shot four times with an airgun.

Residents in a Surrey village are concerned that a series of airgun incidents in which birds have been shot could lead to serious injury.

A Norfolk man was fined after he shot at his neighbour's dog with an airgun.

SEPTEMBER 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - September was marked by a number of serious gun attacks on young people (see also Airguns), two of whom were killed.

A 15-year-old boy was the victim of a fatal shooting in Moss Side (Manchester) and a teenage boy was shot dead in the Meadows area of Nottingham. In another Manchester shooting a 16-year-old girl was hit in the shoulder in Whalley Edge. Two teenagers were injured, one critically, during an attack outside a fast food restaurant in Brixton (south London).

Other deaths occurred after shooting incidents at nightclubs in Bristol and Kings Cross (London), and two people (a man and a woman) died in a double shooting in Derby which appears to have been a murder/suicide (the man responsible had a shooting gallery set up in his back garden). A man died after apparently shooting himself with a shotgun in Govilon (near Abergavenny): two of his neighbours had earlier been shot and injured in their garden.

A member of the armed forces was critically injured in a shooting at Ogmore-by-Sea (South Wales): he was the only person involved. A man died after shooting himself in the face with his own shotgun during an organised duck shoot near Fraserburgh.

Men were injured in gun attacks in Glasgow, Portslade (Sussex), Bury (Greater Manchester), Hillfields (Coventry), Winson Green (Birmingham), Dingle (Merseyside), Marsh (Huddersfield) (in a pub), Headington (Oxford) (at a house party), Lemington (Newcastle) and Govilon (near Abergavenny, two brothers injured (see above)),   There were a number of incidents in south London which resulted in gun injuries: in Camberwell, Old Kent Road, Brixton (two separate incidents, one in which a cyclist was shot and another in which two men were shot outside a club), Walworth and Kennington. Other London incidents which left victims injured were reported from Hackney and Hanwell.

A man claims he suffered a mysterious gunshot wound at a birthday party in Ingol (Preston).

A man was knocked unconscious with a stun gun in an attack in Chester-le-Street.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were armed robberies or attempted robberies on an off licence in Lincoln, a video store in Aylesbury, post offices in Walker and Denton Park (both Tyneside) and Loxton (Somerset), jewellers in Chester, Manchester and Blackpool and other shops in Bulwell (Notts), Hartlepool and Needham Market (Suffolk). Security guards were the target of robbers in Gosforth (Newcastle), Benfleet (Essex) and Doncaster. A pub was raided in Meadows (Nottingham) and a takeaway in Marsh (Huddersfield). A petrol station was robbed at Tattenham Corner (Surrey).

Taxi drivers were robbed at gunpoint by passengers in Preston and Huddersfield.

A lorry was hijacked at gunpoint in Aveley (Essex).

A man was robbed of property at gunpoint in North Shields, another was threatened for his mobile phone in Huddersfield and a victim in York was approached by a gunman who demanded property (the victim disarmed the man). A man was forced to stop his car and hand over cash in Longford (Coventry).

A couple were held at gunpoint in their Coventry home by thieves who stole their car and cash. An armed man stole a car from a woman who had been shopping in Rochdale.

A prisoner escaped after the van in which he was being transported was held up by armed men in Redditch.

Other Incidents - Several shots were fired by a gang in south east London during attacks which left one man dead and another injured, both from stab wounds. A man was seriously injured in a hit and run incident when the car driven by a man armed with a handgun, who had just been arguing with another man, hit him in East Ham, east London.

The door of a caravan was blasted by a gunman at a travellers' camp near Sandy, Bedfordshire.

Shots were fired as one car chased another along the A1 near Barnet, north London. A road in Bradford city centre was closed after reports of a gun being fired.

A man has been abducted at gunpoint from his Glasgow home.

Thefts and Losses - Thieves stole 33 air rifles and air pistols from an angling shop in Surrey.

A police officer mislaid a metal holder containing 15 bullets in Nottingham.

Gun Finds - Hundreds of guns were found at a house in Dartford in what the Metropolitan Police consider to be one of their biggest ever seizures. A man has been arrested and charged with a number of firearms offences.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life when their car was stopped in Stapleton (Bristol), and a man was arrested after a sub-machine gun, ammunition and drugs were found at a Liverpool flat.

An arsenal of weapons, ammunition and shotgun powder was found in a private house in Ashbrooke, Sunderland, after the owner, a gun club member, had died. The discovery led to the evacuation of neighbouring houses.

Terrorism - A number of those arrested recently in London and the South East on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities have been charged with firearms offences.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - Four young men, aged between 18 and 20, were convicted of firearm and robbery offences committed in the Sutton (Surrey) area.

A man who was overpowered by a police officer in Peckham (south London) was jailed for 11 years for possessing firearms, including a machine pistol and a replica pistol. A 10 year sentence was given to a man who threatened a police officer with a firearm following an attempt to rob a jewellers in Knightsbridge (London).

A man was jailed for nine years after firing a shotgun during an attempted robbery in Balornock (Glasgow).

Two men were jailed after they had been stopped whilst driving to a suspected shooting in London. They received sentences of six years and three years for possessing firearms.

A Nottingham man was jailed for eight years after giving his girlfriend a loaded machine pistol and ammunition. Another man was jailed for 10 years after searches of two houses (including his own) in south London had led to the finding of a machine gun and a stun gun. Another Nottingham man who was caught with a sawn-off shotgun in his shed in Bilborough was jailed for three-and-a-half years, although had the gun been six inches longer he would have received a five year mandatory sentence: the lesser sentence has been criticised by campaigners and politicians.

Airguns - There were more serious airgun attacks in September, and there must be continuing concern about the number of these which have left the victims, often young people, with injuries.

An eight-year-old boy playing in his back garden in North Tyneside was shot in the head with an air rifle pellet. A 12-year-old girl was shot in the face while playing with friends in Biggleswade and a schoolgirl was injured when she too was shot in the face during breaktime in Beaumont Leys (Leicester).   Teenage boys were injured in Stoke-on-Trent (whilst the victim was walking home) and in Brampton (Cambridgeshire) (while the victim was fishing) and another was shot as he walked in a field in Keynsham.   A boy was shot in a street in Chard (Somerset).

A 16-year-old has lost the sight in one eye after an incident with an air rifle in Featherstone, Staffordshire.   The air weapon involved, bought at a car boot sale, may fire when dropped to the ground.

A police officer was taken to hospital after being shot in the back of the neck with an air weapon in Sunderland.

A man had to be taken to hospital after being shot with an air pistol at a party in Wembley (north London). A man needed stitches after an attack in Redhill (Surrey) and a teacher at a school for the visually impaired at Penwortham (Lancashire) was hit when an air weapon was fired at visitors. A security guard was hit in the head at a vehicle depot in Polmadie (Glasgow) and needed surgery to have a pellet removed from his skull.

An airgun was fired from a van at a lorry being driven on the A1 in Nottinghamshire. Vandals armed with airguns shot at cars in Mortlake, south London.

An air rifle was fired through the window of a primary school in Telford, and windows were damaged after an air weapon was fired at a building used by a playgroup in Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire. Five pubs and restaurants in Oldham were targeted by a drive-by shooter armed with an airgun.

Airguns were recovered by police after a member of the public called to say she had seen a man with a gun behind a block of flats in Kenilworth. An airgun was seized by police in Penyfai (South Wales).

An ex-manager of a police explosives and firearm licensing department was charged after an alleged incident in Torquay when he was found with a gas-powered air pistol, which requires a licence.

A teenager was jailed for a minimum of six years for shooting his friend in the head with an air rifle in Washington (Co. Durham). A man was convicted of possessing an air rifle with intent to cause fear at his ex-partner's house in Heysham. A man who threatened a passer-by with an air pistol in Norwich has been jailed for 12 months.

A number of Scottish courts dealt with offenders involved in airgun incidents.    The most serious offence was culpable homicide: a man pleaded guilty to shooting dead his friend with an air rifle whilst he fired at the wall of his living room in East Calder. A 15-year-old admitted culpably and recklessly discharging an air rifle in Muirhouse (Edinburgh): a six-year-old boy had been hit in the head. A 17-year-old appeared in court after taking a pot shot at a CCTV camera in a Perth supermarket with an air rifle, and two men who took potshots from their car in Perth and hit four people admitted assaulting victims by shooting at them. A young professional footballer has admitted having a loaded airgun in a car while driving around in a car in Sighthill (Edinburgh). A man accused of terrorising teenagers with an air pistol in Penicuik was cleared because he was epileptic (he was alleged to have held the pistol to the head of one boy).

Imitation Guns - There was more evidence in September of the widespread misuse of imitation guns, especially by young people, and that these weapons are being deliberately used in serious criminal activities.

A 14-year-old may lose the sight of one eye after being hit with a BB gun pellet in Greater Leys, Oxford. A 12-year-old cyclist narrowly escaped injury after being hit with a BB gun pellet fired from a car in Southgate (Surrey).

In two separate incidents BB guns were fired in schools. Three youths walked into a school in Sunderland armed with a BB gun and started taking potshots at pupils. Two pupils have been charged after fellow pupils were shot with a ball-bearing gun at a school in Aberdeen.

A man was injured after being shot with a pellet gun in Arnold, Nottinghamshire. A man suffered serious soreness and bruising after being shot by pellets, probably from a paintball gun, in Bromsgrove.

Youths with BB guns went on the rampage in South Wiltshire causing damage to property and to dozens of cars in a number of localities. Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused to shop windows in Bridgwater.

A woman was arrested on suspicion of causing fear with an imitation firearm after demanding drugs in South Shields. A man was held after an incident involving an imitation gun at a pub in Warwick. A 16-year-old was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm after an imitation gun was found in Northampton.

A replica firearm was recovered after an incident involving armed police at a house in Swindon. A man appeared in court charged with robbery and with possessing an imitation firearm after a raid in Blackpool.

A man was found guilty of a number of charges following four robberies in which staff at three shops and a bookmakers in Nottingham were threatened with a fake gun. Another offender pleaded guilty to committing a breach of the peace after he had threatened to shoot a volunteer in a soup kitchen in Edinburgh when armed with an imitation firearm.

Incidents Involving Animals - The reports published in September continued to describe airgun attacks on animals and birds, particularly on cats and swans.

A number of grey seals were found shot and killed in Orkney.

OCTOBER 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - There were four fatal shootings in London; a man's body was found in a property in Wandsworth, two 22-year-old men were killed in separate incidents in Ealing and Harlesden over the same weekend and a man was found dead with a number of gunshot wounds in an alleyway in Clapham.

A teenage boy was found dead in a house in Lochbroom (Wester Ross): there were apparently no suspicious circumstances.

Two men were critically injured when they were shot in Harehills (Leeds) and Holbrooks (Coventry). Two victims were injured in the same incident in Ealing which led to another man's death (see above). Two men have been injured in shooting incidents in Glasgow.

Two men received gunshot wounds outside a nightclub in Elephant and Castle, south London. In another nightclub incident a man was shot in Sheffield. We have previously noted the number of shootings which take place in and outside nightclubs and are pleased to report that a nightclub in Nottingham has had its licence revoked after a shooting took place there earlier in the year.

A teacher was attacked with a stun gun outside a school in Bristol.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - During a reported bank robbery in Finchley Road, north London, shots were fired at two police officers - a man has been charged with their attempted murder.

There were armed robberies or attempted robberies on a fast food restaurant in Nottingham, at post offices in East Bergholt (Suffolk) and Calderbrook (Littleborough), at a betting shop in Milnsbridge (Huddersfield), jewellers in Blackpool and Beckenham (south London), an off licence in Leamington and other shops in St Osyths (Essex), Allerton (Bradford), Clacton (Essex), Wincobank (Sheffield) and Coleshill (Coventry).

Security guards were held up in separate incidents in Kent, at Paddock Wood and Larkfield. A petrol station was raided at Escrick (North Yorkshire).

A woman had her car stolen by two men who threatened her at gunpoint in Bishop's Stortford (Hertfordshire).

In a raid on a Wigan pub the landlady and her partner were locked in a cupboard. A man was robbed at gunpoint in his home in Giffnock (Glasgow).

A suspected gunman attempted to rob two women of their handbags on streets in Whitchurch (Cardiff).

Other Incidents - A man was threatened with a handgun in Felling (Tyneside). A man was arrested after a party of three anglers (a man and two boys) were shot at after they were asked to leave a private lake in South Ockenden (Essex).

A man was arrested after police had to seal off the centre of Shrewsbury following reports of a man being seen with a gun. The town of Crowhurst (Sussex) was also shut down for a while after reports of a man with a rifle or gun. Armed police swooped on a Peterborough street following reports that a man was seen wielding a handgun or a knife.

A 15-year-old was arrested when he was found to have a gun on a bus in Weoley Castle (Birmingham). A man who fled from a road accident in Keighley was believed to have been carrying a firearm.

Four people, including a girl of 14, were remanded following a raid in Harrow in which firearms and drugs were found by police. In another drugs raid in Swanley (Kent) a handgun and ammunition with recovered: two men were charged.

Smuggling, Thefts and Losses - Two men have been charged after firearms parts and ammunition were found at Dover docks.

Nine soldiers are to be prosecuted for smuggling guns out of Iraq to trade for cash and drugs.

An assault rifle being used by Prince William at Sandhurst was missing for two hours.

A paint ball gun was among items stolen from a house in Kingsheath (Northampton).

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - There were long jail sentences for three men convicted after serious shooting incidents. One was jailed for a minimum of 28 years after killing a man in Grimsby and another for 12-and-a-half-years after shooting a man in the head in Salford. A man was given a jail sentence of six years, nine months for firing a shot at two police officers in Huddersfield.

A gun club member was jailed for five years after police found an illegal arsenal of more than 100 guns in his house near Wrexham.

An Aberdeen man was fined £900 for firing a stun gun in a pub.

Airguns - There was a welcome reduction in the number of reported airgun incidents in which victims were injured this month, but there remained, nevertheless, a significant number of serious incidents.

During a month in which Staffordshire Police say they dealt with 63 airgun incidents during the school summer holidays a boy was hit in the eye with an airgun pellet as he walked in the street in Cannock (Stafford). It was revealed that a young boy from Cruden Bay (Aberdeenshire) has had an airgun pellet in his neck for a number of weeks since being hit in a lane near his home in August (a 12-year-old has been charged). An airgun sniper injured two girls at Rhuddlan Castle. A 10-year-old girl was wounded in the throat whilst she 'played' with an airgun at a house in Wolverhampton.

A man was shot in the hand and face with an airgun whilst walking in the street in Harlow and another was wounded when he was hit by an airgun pellet in Kirkdale (Liverpool). Yet another airgun victim was hit in the head in Lochmaben (Dumfries & Galloway).

Ambulance crews have been targeted with air weapons in incidents on Teesside and Tyneside.

Vandals with an airgun shot at two windows of a home in Ipswich. A motorist believes his car window was broken by an airgun fired in East Grinstead (Surrey), and in the same town a theatre and arts centre was damaged in an air rifle attack.

A man appeared in court charged with firing a powerful air rifle at a vehicle occupied by two men at Combroke (Warwickshire).

A man received a four year jail sentence for killing his friend with an airgun at his home in East Calder.

A teenage boy was given a six month detention and training order for shooting a girl with an air rifle near Middlesbrough: the girl lost the sight of one eye.

A 19-year-old youth received a deferred prison sentence: he and others had fired an air rifle at cars near Costessey (Norfolk). A man was given 240 hours of community service after firing an air pistol from a car in Currie, outside Edinburgh.

A convicted armed robber faces a jail sentence after being caught with an air rifle.

An ex-police employee responsible for firearms in Devon and Cornwall received a caution after being found in possession of a gas cartridge airgun, which required a licence, in Exmouth.

Imitation Guns - Lancashire Police reported that in 2004/05 more than half of the firearms incidents (160 out of 259) involved weapons like ball-bearing guns. In October 2006 there were still too many incidents involving these weapons.

An inquest heard how a 20-year-old was killed when he shot himself with a faulty replica gun converted to fire steel ball-bearings in Anfield (Merseyside).

A teenage boy was threatened by a group of youths armed with a ball-bearing gun who stole his mobile phone and wallet in Spalding. A woman used a ball-bearing gun in a hold up on a takeaway in Newcastle. A bus driver was attacked with a BB gun in Scarborough. In Arbury (Cambridge) a man tried to rob three male students whilst armed with what appeared to be an imitation gun.

Two of a group of three boys were seen on CCTV footage holding guns whilst walking through Macclesfield: police believe it is most likely that the weapons were imitations, but say that the incident could have had fatal consequences had an armed response team been called. Two youths were arrested in Bridgwater (Somerset) when they were spotted carrying guns, later found to be BB guns, in the town centre.

A Muswell Hill (north London) man who saw youths in the street with BB guns has been subjected to a firebomb attack.

A Blackpool hotelier has described how two lads were firing a ball-bearing gun out of a hotel window at girls outside.

Four teenagers were arrested near Ashford in Kent and charged with various offences, including burglary and stealing a car, after four imitation guns (including an airsoft weapon) were found in their car.

A primary school in Bretton (Peterborough) was damaged after an attack involving a ball-bearing gun.

Two police officers were honoured for bravery after the arrest of a man in Bannerfield (Selkirk). He had pointed a pellet gun at them when they went to his house.

A man was arrested on suspicion of having an imitation gun on a train in Liverpool and a teenager was charged after he was found with a ball bearing gun on a train in Colchester. Two men were arrested at Oxenholme station (Cumbria) for possessing an imitation firearm in a public place. A gas powered ball-bearing gun was confiscated from a local youth in Sowerby Bridge (West Yorkshire).

A 19-year-old was given eight months detention after threatening a woman with a fake gun in Preston. A man has admitted using an imitation gun when he held up an off licence in Dundee.

Incidents Involving Animals - Attacks on cats and swans, in particular, continued to occur with sickening regularity: airguns were the weapons mostly responsible. There were also attacks on other birds, including doves, reported during October.

NOVEMBER 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - Two men died in separate shooting incidents in Newtown and Lozells, neighbouring districts of Birmingham. There were other shooting incidents in the area during November. A teenager died after being shot outside a nightclub in Camberwell Green (south east London) (two other men were injured in the same incident) and a man was fatally wounded in Netherley (Merseyside).

Armed police shot dead a man as part of an operation to stop an attempted armed robbery in New Romney (Kent).

A soldier died after being shot in the head at Lydd firing range in Kent.

A man was found dead on the doorstep of a house in Purbrook (Hampshire) and a shotgun recovered, but police were not treating the death as suspicious.

A man has been arrested after a police officer was shot and wounded in the Graiseley area of Wolverhampton. Two police officers were taken to hospital, one with facial injuries, after their vehicle was fired at following a bank robbery in Horwich, near Bolton.

A teenager was left fighting for his life when he was shot outside a talent show in Hornsey (north London). Another male victim was critically injured when he was shot a number of times in a Birmingham street. Another man was critically injured in a drive-by shooting in Auchinairn (near Glasgow) in which a second victim was injured. Two men were injured in the same incident in Camberwell Green in which a teenager was shot dead (see above), and a man was shot and injured in Bellshill (Lanarkshire). Two men were injured after a gunman opened fire on a car in Smethwick (West Midlands) after a funeral. A teenage victim was shot and wounded in a hotel in Slough, and in yet another shooting in Moss Side (Manchester) a 16-year-old was injured. A motorist was shot in the foot in Slip End (Bedfordshire) when he was chased from his car onto the M1 motorway.

An injured man was being guarded by police in hospital after a suspected gun incident in Great Horton (West Yorkshire).

Four people sustained minor injuries when a shotgun was fired through the window of a Sheffield pub.

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - A mother had her car stolen whilst three men held a gun to her eight-year-old son's head at a petrol station in Cheadle. A woman was pistol whipped by a man who came to her home in Greenwich to purchase some puppies. One person was hurt after being hit on the head with a gun when an attempt was made to gatecrash a party in Southend.

This month there was a spate of reported armed raids on security guards loading money into cash machines. The robberies, which usually take place outside banks, supermarkets and petrol stations happened in Stansted and Epping (Essex), Thumscoe (South Yorkshire), Eaglescliffe (near Stockton), Oxted (Surrey), Great Barr (Birmingham), Trowbridge (Wiltshire) and Falkirk. The GMB Union has voiced its concerns about the rising number of attacks on security vans and says that attacks are likely to top 1000 this year, a 20% rise on last year's figure (BBC, 23 November 2006).

There were robberies and attempted robberies by raiders armed with guns on a bank in Glasgow, post offices in Hartlepool, Birchencliffe (West Yorkshire), Northwold (Norfolk) and Livingston (West Lothian), bookmakers in Skipton (North Yorkshire), Birkby (West Yorkshire) and Spalding (Lincolnshire), a cash-and-carry in Northwich (Cheshire), an off licence in Woodingdean (Brighton), a chemists in Glinton (Cambridgeshire) and other shops in Croston (Lancashire), Widnes, Lindley (West Yorkshire), Corstorphine (Edinburgh) and Bellshill (Lanarkshire). A garage in Plymouth and a pub in Banff were robbed by armed men. A youth who raided a petrol station in Belbroughton (Worcestershire) claimed he was armed with a handgun.

Police have indicated that an airgun was used in a raid on a bank in Ebbw Vale. An assistant was injured with an airgun during a raid on a video store in Monkspath (Warwickshire), and in another raid on a video store (in Waterlooville) the robber was armed with an airgun or BB gun (see below). A BB or pellet gun was fired during a raid on a shop in Lozells (Birmingham) injuring two people (see below).

A taxi driver was held up in Bank Top (Lancashire) during a failed attempt to steal cash and his car.

Three youths have been arrested after a teacher was held up at a school in Bletchley.

Other Incidents - A man has been charged after threatening two security guards at a caravan park in Wells (Norfolk). A serving police officer was arrested on a serious firearms charge after an incident in West Thurrock (Essex).

A bullet was fired through the window of a house in Newcastle. A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and firearms charges following an incident in which a bullet was fired in Peterborough last month.

A gunman armed with a shotgun opened fire on a house and a vehicle in High Green (Sheffield).

An actor has been questioned after a gun and ammunition were found at a property in Salford. A 16-year-old was apparently arrested after a firearms incident in Blakelaw (Tyneside).

Armed police arrested a man on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life after a stand-off in Melksham (Wiltshire).

Two people who were arrested after a stabbing incident in Wallington (Surrey) were charged with firearms and drugs offences in addition to offences relating to the original incident.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - A 19-year-old has been convicted of the murder of a teenage member of a rival Manchester gang in Hulme (sentence to be announced). Two men were jailed for a minimum of 30 years for shooting dead a man in Chingford.

A Glasgow man was jailed for seven years for storing firearms.

Smuggling - Three Manchester men have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 37 years for smuggling blank-firing pistols into Britain: the guns were converted to fire live rounds.

Stun guns - Two women who used a stun gun during a robbery in a pub near Blackburn were both jailed for two years.

A man from Sutton-in-Ashfield (Nottinghamshire) has been jailed for 18 months after buying a stun gun, a prohibited weapon, through the internet. Two people have been charged with possessing a stun gun in Clacton (Essex).

Airguns - A boy of five was shot on the temple with an air weapon in Hollinwood (Manchester): two men aged 18 and 20 have been arrested. A cyclist who had been shopping in Fulbourn (Cambridge) was hit and injured by an airgun fired from a passing car. Armed raiders shot a shop assistant in the eye during a raid on a video store in Monkspath (Warwickshire). A man was hit with a pellet whilst walking in the street in Sheerness: after the assault an air rifle, pellets and cannabis were seized. Another man who was pushing his young child in a buggy in Lupset (West Yorkshire) was hit with an airgun pellet.

Police have said that an airgun was used in a raid on a bank in Ebbw Vale and a video shop in Waterlooville was held up by a man armed with an airgun or BB gun.

A woman's car was hit by an airgun pellet as she drove through Barrhead (Renfrewshire). In an apparent road rage incident in Oxfordshire a van driver was followed for seven miles before another motorist fired an airgun through the rear window.

Three youths with air rifles were arrested at Penshaw (Co. Durham) after members of the public were targeted. A bus service in Weston-super-Mare has been diverted after vehicles were shot at, probably with airguns. Damage has been caused to a leisure centre in Walton (Merseyside) - windows were shot out with BB guns and air rifles.

A court heard how a teenager was shot three times with an air pistol in a street in York.

Convictions - A 15-year-old who shot a young boy in the head with an air rifle in Muirhouse (Edinburgh) was placed on probation for three years - the court heard that had he been locked up he would never achieve his ambition to become a soldier.

The following cases highlight how airguns are being used to threaten partners and ex-partners - A woman was given a suspended 51-week prison sentence for using an air rifle in an attack on her ex-partner in Pinner (north London). An Airdrie man, who fired pellets from an air pistol into his partner's head and chest after returning from a drunken party, was given 300 hours of community service. A man was given a suspended 12-month sentence after he had pointed an air rifle at his estranged partner's house in Heysham. Another man received a 20 month jail sentence for waving an air pistol in his ex-girlfriend's face in Hatfield.

A teenager broke into his elderly neighbour's house in Newarthill, Lanarkshire, armed with an airgun and bound and gagged her before stealing various items from her (sentence was deferred).

Three men, one of whom was drunk and carrying an air rifle, who burst into a house in Colne, admitted charges of affray. They were given community orders and suspended prison sentences.

A man who threatened to shoot a hotel manager in St David's who had refused him another drink was fined £500 after an air pistol had been found in his bedroom.

Two Sheffield men were convicted after one of them had been spotted with a converted air rifle in a park.

A man was put on probation for 18 months following an incident in which he told police he was going to shoot himself with a gas-powered handgun in Johnstone (Renfrewshire).

A footballer was fined £1500 after he was caught with a loaded airgun in a car in Sighthill Green (Edinburgh). Another man was given 240 hours community service after pulling an airgun from a carrier bag in the centre of Edinburgh. An 18-year-old pleaded guilty to being in possession of an air rifle and ammunition after being seen in the street in Johnstone.

There have been a number of recent instances of men released after serving sentences for serious offences being found in possession of airguns, in breach of their parole conditions or release licence. In November there were cases involving convicted murderers found with weapons in Hilperton (Wiltshire) and York. Another former prisoner was found with an air rifle in Brandon (Suffolk).

Imitation Guns - A teenager was hit in the face and suffered bruising and blurred vision when a fellow pupil shot him with a BB gun at a school in Chandler's Ford (Hampshire). A paper girl was hit with a BB gun pellet whilst delivering papers in Worcester. A man was hit in the face with a pellet fired by a young child when a group of 9 and 10-year olds were "playing" with BB guns in Brickhill (Bedfordshire). Two teenagers have been charged after another boy was hit in the face with a BB gun pellet in Cullen (Aberdeenshire).

A fake gun was used by three burglars who had already killed one woman when they raided a second home in Hillingdon (west London).

Two people were injured in Lozells (Birmingham) with a BB or pellet gun during a raid on a shop.

Shots were fired, apparently from a BB gun, from a car as it drove through Cirencester. It is believed that an imitation gun was recovered after an incident in the centre of Bath. A Horsham resident was arrested after a BB gun was seen at a Remembrance Day ceremony. Police in Ilminster (Somerset) dealt with a BB gun incident involving a 12-year-old boy, while in Burnham (Somerset) officers had to deal with three incidents involving BB guns in the space of four days.

Vandals with BB guns have caused damage to a leisure centre in Merseyside (see above) and to churches in Morecambe.

Convictions - A former police officer was jailed for four years after pointing an imitation gun at two police officers to avoid arrest over a plot to steal money from a bingo hall in Bradford.

A man was given a two year suspended sentence and ordered to pay compensation for an aggravated burglary committed 5 years ago in Shrivenham (Oxfordshire): he had been armed with a replica handgun.

Paintball Guns - Four people, including three teenagers, have been arrested after a series of paintball gun attacks in west Berkshire following a burglary at a paintball centre in Pangbourne.

A man was fined £500 after terrifying a family by firing at them with a paintball gun that looked like an airgun while they were driving through Paisley.

Incidents Involving Animals - Most of the reported incidents concerned pet cats and wild birds. The illegal slaughter of four deer occurred in Aberdeenshire.

DECEMBER 2006 - SUMMARY

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Gun Deaths and Injuries - Six men were killed in gun incidents during December. Fatal shootings occurred in Carshalton (south London), Croxteth (Merseyside), Handsworth (Birmingham) and Ipswich (three other men received injuries in a number of shooting incidents linked to one nightclub which police have asked to be closed). Three men were shot, one fatally, at an MOT centre in Lambhill (Glasgow) in an incident which has been reported to be part of an on-going criminal feud in Glasgow. A man found dead in Cottingham (Humberside) had been badly beaten but had also been shot a number of times with an airgun.

A man died from gunshot wounds at a farm near Broadway, Worcestershire. Police are investigating whether the death was accidental or suicide.

Three men received gunshot wounds in shootings linked to a nightclub in Ipswich which claimed the life of another man (see above). Two other victims were injured during the incident in which one man was shot dead in Lambhill (Glasgow) (see above). An ice cream salesman was shot with a shotgun and critically injured in his van in an attack in Penicuik - the shooting may be due to a past grievance. Two men were injured in a shooting incident in Ordsall (Salford). Police were called to an incident in Tynemouth in which a man was seriously injured when he was shot in the legs. Another teenager became the target of a Manchester gun attack - the 17-year-old was shot three times whilst cycling through a park in Stretford. A man was injured in the hand when he was shot outside a pub in Springburn (Glasgow).

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - A masked gunman robbed a woman of thousands of pounds worth of jewellery and cash when he raided her home in Sandbanks (Dorset). Two men tied up and threatened another woman in her home in Gravesend (Kent) before stealing cash, jewellery and her car. A pensioner was robbed by three armed gunmen at his home in Berkhamsted (Hertfordshire).

A female security guard was threatened with a handgun by robbers who stole cash she was delivering in Wickford (Essex). Another security guard was robbed whilst delivering cash to a shop in Bury. Two men were robbed in the street of a bag of cash which they were taking to deposit at a bank in Huntingdon.

A man was threatened at gunpoint and had his car stolen after taking two men for a test drive in Harlow.

Robberies and attempted robberies by men armed with guns occurred on a petrol station in Doncaster, travel agents in Darlington and Hartlepool (the raids may be linked), off licences in Whittingham (Preston), Belvedere (south London) (a ball-bearing gun was fired, see below), Fratton (Portsmouth) and Rugby, on other shops in Penge and Anerley (south London) (the same gang may have been involved), Long Buckby (Northamptonshire) (a ball-bearing gun was used, see below), Hatfield (Hertfordshire), Leasowe (Wirral) (a stun gun was used) and York, a restaurant in Forres (Morayshire), a building society in Ashbourne (Derbyshire), post offices in St Agnes (Cornwall), Porth (South Wales) and Darnall (Sheffield) and a betting shop in Leicester.

Other Incidents - Two nurses at a Birmingham hospital were threatened by a man thought to have been armed with a gun.

A man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after a fight at a pub in Newlyn (Cornwall).

A suspected thief, armed with a stun gun, smashed a glass door at the Harrods store in Knightsbridge (London).

A nightclub in Croydon was evacuated and a loaded pistol found after a man had been spotted with a handgun.

Gun Thefts and Finds - A haul of 65 guns was discovered by police in an empty house in Crystal Palace (south London).

A rifle, ammunition, telescopic sight and silencer and an air rifle and pellets were stolen from a farm outbuilding near Elgin. During a robbery at a shop in Swansea a number of air rifles and ball-bearing guns were stolen.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - In December there were several trials involving gunmen charged with murder or attempted murder, a number of whom were in their teens at the time of the crime.

Two men were sentenced to a minimum of 35 years for the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky who was fatally shot during an armed raid on a travel agents in Bradford: another police officer was injured. Two other members of the gang were found guilty of PC Beshenivsky's manslaughter (one was sentenced to at least 11 years, the other will be sentenced in January).

Following another incident in which a woman police officer was shot, a man was convicted of the attempted murder of PC Rachael Bown in Nottingham and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Four teenagers were convicted for killing a woman who was shot dead at a christening party in Peckham - a 17-year-old was found guilty of murder, the other three of manslaughter. All face long terms in jail when sentencing takes place.

Three members of a London drugs gang were convicted of shooting and murdering a man during the 2004 Notting Hill Carnival in west London.

A man described as an expert shot was jailed for at least 26 years for killing his landlord, a farmer in Radcliffe, with a shotgun.

Two men were given indeterminate jail sentences after being found guilty of attempted murder and other offences following the shooting of a man when violence had erupted at a bar in Basingstoke.

A soldier has been jailed for three years after he stole a pistol from the armoury of his barracks in Devon and used it to threaten his drug dealer. Three other soldiers have been given custodial sentences (over five years, two years and eights months and six months) for their involvement in a scheme to buy guns in Iraq and sell them to fellow soldiers (two other soldiers are due to face proceedings next year).

A collector of "illegal things" pleaded guilty to various firearms charges after a cache of guns and ammunition had been found in his home in Aberdeenshire.

A man who worked at Harrow School used his gun collection to lure vulnerable victims was jailed for 16 years for subjecting boys to a catalogue of sexual abuse.

A man who buried an illegally-held handgun in his garden was given a two year suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 180 hours unpaid work after he claimed to have brought the gun into the country inadvertently.

Airguns - Two teenagers have been charged with murder after the body of a man was found in a field at Cottingham (Humberside): he had been shot several times with an airgun and badly beaten.

A man was shot and injured in the leg with an air rifle following an argument in a pub in Diss (Norfolk).

The windscreen of a bus was shattered by an airgun pellet whilst the vehicle was being driven through Elgin.

Police in Withington (Gloucestershire) reprimanded three boys aged 16 and 15 after an air rifle was fired.

A Leeds man who documented acts of vandalism, threatening and anti-social behaviour on camera says he recorded airgun pellets being fired and threats made to shoot a four-year-old girl.

A 20-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of unlawful wounding following an incident in Poole in which a seven-year-old boy was shot with an air rifle.

A man appeared in court after he was arrested for having a loaded air pistol in his car in Lerwick - the gun was confiscated.

Imitation Guns - During a month in which parents were warned by police forces across the country not to buy imitation guns for their children at Christmas there was further evidence of the criminal use of these weapons. Because of their ease of availability, it is likely that many more of the handguns reportedly used during armed robberies (see above) will have been imitation guns.

Shop workers were shot with ball-bearing guns during hold ups on shops in Belvedere (south London) and Long Buckby (Northamptonshire).

A woman was taken to hospital after being shot, probably with a ball-bearing gun, in a street in Carlisle.

Three men admitted possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence after pointing a ball-bearing gun out of a car in the centre of Mansfield.

A man was given a supervision order for 18 months after he had been seen in Preston carrying a machete and a ball-bearing gun.

Incidents Involving Animals - In addition to the continuing catalogue of sickening attacks on cats with airguns, there were also reports of dogs being targeted by gunmen.