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.