|
2009 - REVIEWS
JANUARY 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
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Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were nine fatal shootings reported during January, four
of them apparent homicides which took place in:
-
Edinburgh - the male victim may
have been murdered as part of a gang war
-
Isle of Wight - a man was shot
dead in Wellow: the victim's wife, a clay-pigeon shooting
enthusiast, has been charged with murder
-
Merseyside - a man was found shot
dead in a street in Fazakerley
-
Worcestershire - the
victim was the son of a sub-postmaster in Fairfield where both
men were shot during
an attempted robbery: four people have been charged with
murder, attempted murder and attempted robbery
-
The full details of two other
fatal shootings have not been revealed:
-
Lincolnshire - a man
died after receiving a shotgun injury in
Gayton-le-Marsh: a woman was arrested and
bailed until March
-
Teesside - a man died
from shotgun wounds in Stockton: a man was arrested on suspicion of firearm
offences
-
Three other men appear to have
taken their own lives in shooting incidents in Gleadless (Sheffield),
where a man had barricaded himself into a flat, at a park in
Rivington (Lancashire) and in a field in Brewood
(Staffordshire), close to a property where a woman had been
shot and injured.
-
Shooting incidents that resulted
in injury occurred in:
-
Humberside (1) - a man suffered
a stomach wound in a shooting incident in Hull - nine people
have been arrested and three have been charged with violent
disorder
-
Merseyside (3) - one man was
shot in the leg in a targeted attack in Speke, another was
shot outside a nightclub in the centre of Liverpool and a
third male victim was hit in the face with shotgun pellets in St
Helens
-
South London (2) - a man walking
his dog was shot in the leg in Clapham (the dog was also shot
and injured) and another man was shot in the leg in Camberwell
-
South Yorkshire (1) - a man was
shot in the leg in Sharrow (Sheffield)
-
Staffordshire (1) - a woman was
shot twice at a house in Brewood, where police discovered the
body of her partner and a gun in a neighbouring field (see above)
-
West Midlands (3) - two men were
shot in the leg in separate incidents in Dudley and West
Bromwich, and another victim was shot in the hand and shoulder
in Hockley
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a man was
shot in the bottom in Bradford
-
Worcestershire (1) - the father
of the man fatally shot during an attempted robbery on a post
office in Fairfield (see above) was injured by a shot in the leg
-
A man was seriously injured
after he was shot by the police during an incident at a house
in Brighouse (West Yorkshire). Another man was is a
serious condition after he was shot by a police officer in
Palmers Green (north London) during an pre-planned operation during
which the police had stopped two cars.
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - The number
of reports of robberies and attempted robberies involving men
armed with guns suggests they are on the increase. More
types of premises were targeted. In one of three
incidents in which shots were fired, at a post office in Fairfield
(Worcestershire), one man was killed and his father seriously
injured. No one was injured in the other two incidents: two police
officers came across an armed raid on two security guards
delivering cash to a building society in Kings Heath
(Birmingham) and during a raid on a shop in North Kensington
(west London). In the majority of incidents no weapon
was fired,
and quite often the perpetrators fled empty-handed when
challenged. It seems likely that in
many instances the weapon was a replica firearm.
Nevertheless, the possibility that the weapon being brandished
could be lethal and loaded means that any realistic-looking
gun, real or imitation, will always be a threat.
-
In addition to the raid in
Kings Heath (see above), security guards were also targeted in Bramley
(Leeds) and Clacton (Essex)
-
A man was arrested in
connection with three armed robberies in Darlington (County
Durham) including one outside a bank and one on a post office. There were other
armed raids on:
-
Banks in Headington (Oxford) (the staff did not believe the gun was genuine) and
Gloucester (two people have been arrested), and a cash handling
centre in Beaumont Leys (Leicester)
-
A Car Wash in Harrogate (North
Yorkshire)
-
A Cinema in Sapley (Huntingdon)
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Bookmakers in Brighton (a
ball-bearing gun was found and may have been connected with
the raid), Gilmerton (Edinburgh), Hamilton (South
Lanarkshire), Ingol (Lancashire), Oldham (Greater Manchester)
(a man put a gun against a woman's face and pulled the
trigger) and Shrewsbury (Shropshire)
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Petrol stations in Middlesbrough
(the gunman was believed to be just 16 years old) and
Spaldwick (Cambridgeshire)
-
Post Offices in Elwick (Teesside), Harrogate
(North Yorkshire) and Stanton Harcourt (Oxfordshire) (a man
and a woman have been arrested), as well as the fatal attack
in Fairfield (Worcestershire) (see above)
-
A Pub in Sherwood (Nottingham)
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Shops in Bootle (Liverpool),
Cippenham (Berkshire), Gorton (Manchester) and North Kensington
(west London) (two robberies in one of which shots were fired)
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A Travel Agents in Atherton
(Greater Manchester)
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A man was struck on the head with a small handgun
during a robbery at a house in Stoneleigh (Surrey).
-
A car was stolen at gunpoint in a street in Ladbroke Grove
(west London).
-
There were attempted robberies
on drivers in Alfreton (Derbyshire) and Blackburn (Lancashire)
(the police believe the robbers were after the takings from a
shop).
-
There was a street robbery in
Paisley (Renfrewshire) which may have been linked to a later
incident in Bridge of Weir.
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Other Incidents - Two men were charged after a gun
was fired during a disturbance in Leeds. On Merseyside
police were called after three shots were fired at an empty
car in Crosby and shots were fired at a property in
Birkenhead. Gunshots were also fired at a house
in Sarisbury Green (Hampshire).
-
A suspected burglar escaped from
a prison van when two men with a shotgun held up the van in Feltham
(west London): he was recaptured a few days later.
-
A teenager has been charged with
possessing an automatic firearm and ammunition after a street
fight in Aston (Birmingham). A man forced his way into a
house in Whitehaven (Cumbria) and threatened the occupant with
a firearm which was retrieved by police. Four men were
arrested and a firearm recovered after an altercation at a pub
in Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire).
-
Two young girls had a firearm
pointed at them by two young men as they were walking in
Letham (Angus).
-
A suspected gunman was arrested
after armed police were called to flats in Southampton.
Police arrested two people at a house in Toothill (Wiltshire)
after investigating calls about a firearm. A man was
arrested in Didcot (Oxfordshire) on suspicion of making
threats to kill and there were allegations that the man had
firearms in the house. Four people were arrested on
suspicion of possessing a firearm after a siege at a flat in
Blackpool.
-
Two men were charged with
grievous bodily harm, robbery and possession of a firearm
after an incident in Weymouth (Dorset) in which a woman was
stabbed.
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Two men were arrested in
Scotland in connection with a drugs and firearm investigation
in Lancashire. A man from Whitley (Berkshire)
has been accused of possessing a shotgun, cocaine and
cannabis.
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Gun Thefts and Recoveries - A number of shotguns
and airguns were reported
stolen:
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Three shotguns together with boxes of
ammunition were stolen from a house in Seven Sisters (Neath,
South Wales): a man has been arrested
-
Three shotguns were stolen during a
burglary in Middleton Cheney (Northamptonshire)
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Four shotguns were stolen, along with a
sports car and other items, during a break-in at a house in
Rolleston (Nottinghamshire)
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A shotgun was stolen during a burglary
in Snelland (Lincolnshire)
-
Air rifles were stolen from a
property in Metherington (Lincolnshire), a car in
Bethersden (Kent) and a garage in Wynyard (County Durham).
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A shotgun was recovered from
undergrowth in Wingate (County Durham).
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A machine gun, pistol and
ammunition were found during a police raid on a house in
Wythenshawe (Greater Manchester): one man has been charged.
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Police found a handgun at a
property in Thornbury (Gloucestershire) where a cannabis
factory was discovered in the roof. A ball-bearing gun
was recovered from one of seven properties raided by police in
High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire) during an operation aimed at
combating drugs and organised crime.
-
Stun guns have been recovered by
police in a number of drug-related raids. One was among items
seized from a house in Edinburgh where counterfeit
material was also found, another was recovered in Cleckheaton (West Yorkshire)
and one was found during a series of raids in Hartlepool.
-
The Metropolitan Police reported
that a month-long crackdown on the carrying of weapons in
London netted five guns and led to 50 arrests.
-
Airguns - During January victims were targeted with airguns in:
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Middlesbrough - a 17-year-old
walking in the street was hit in the hand and had to have a
pellet removed in hospital
-
Swansea - a man claimed he was
struck in the knee by a pellet as he was walking along a
street
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Truro (Cornwall) - a 14-year-old
was shot in the arm: it was believed that the gun responsible
was given as a Christmas present
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Wellingborough
(Northamptonshire) - a man and a woman were both hit with airgun
pellets in the same area of the town
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A man was arrested after armed
police were called to an apartment block in Hatherleigh
(Devon) where a man, believed to be armed with an airgun, had
been making threats.
-
A man who confronted youths in
Smethwick (West Midlands) over airgun pellets being fired in
the area later had a gun pulled on him.
-
A man pleaded not guilty when he
appeared in court for allegedly being in possession of an
air pistol in Turnford (Hertfordshire).
-
An airgun was fired a number of
times at a van in Dorking (Surrey). Six bus shelters
have been vandalised, probably with airguns, in Whitburn
(County Durham). Residents in Fulwood (Preston) are
concerned about a cycle route because the area is already
affected by troublemaking: this has included an air rifle
being shot through the window of a home.
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Imitation Guns - Two more young people were injured with
imitation guns, a 12-year-old boy hit with pellets from a BB
gun in Airdrie (North Lanarkshire) and a 14-year-old girl who
needed hospital treatment after she was shot with a
ball-bearing gun in Bolton (her handbag was stolen during the
incident).
-
A group of teenagers may
have been threatened by another teenager with a ball-bearing
gun in North Finchley (north London).
-
A man was charged with false
imprisonment, possessing an imitation firearm and threats to
commit criminal damage after a siege at a house in Wigan.
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A 15-year-old from Burghfield
Common (Reading) has been charged with possessing a firearm (a
"BB air weapon") as well as beating up five people and
intimidating witnesses. Police seized a CO2-powered
ball-bearing gun after an incident in Crawley (Sussex) and a
17-year-old was charged. Armed police went to a college
campus in Chippenham (Wiltshire) and detained another
17-year-old who had concealed an imitation gun in his trousers: he was cautioned.
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Incidents Involving Animals - More animals and birds were
reported to have become victims in shooting
incidents during the month.
-
Cats were shot with air rifles
or ball-bearing guns in Aberdeenshire, Buckinghamshire, County
Durham, Hampshire, North London, Oxfordshire (where another of
the owner's cats had been injured in an airgun shooting in
December 2008), Somerset and South Yorkshire (two separate
incidents). A dog was shot with an air rifle in Somerset
at a location close to where a cat was also shot.
-
Two horses were shot in the eye
in Leatherhead (Surrey) and one of them has had to be put
down.
-
An animal welfare group has
called for an investigation into the alleged shooting of a
seal during its breeding season near Kyle of Lochalsh
(Ross-shire). In another incident in Scotland a deer,
which had been a tourist attraction in Glencoe (Argyll), had to be
put down after being shot with an air rifle.
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Ducks in Chalfont St Peter
(Buckinghamshire) and Greatham Village (Hartlepool) were
shot dead with
airguns, swans were targeted in the Black Country, Wombwell (South
Yorkshire) and in Shepperton and Chertsey (Surrey).
Several coots were also found shot in Chertsey. Seagulls
and a pigeon have been the target of airgun attacks in
Pevensey Bay (East Sussex).
-
A man was given a suspended
12-week prison sentence for encouraging his son to shoot a
wood pigeon with a high velocity air rifle in their garden in
Tettenhall (Wolverhampton).
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Convictions - A man was found guilty of killing a teenage
girl at a party in Tottenham (north London) and has been
jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years. Another
man, who pleaded guilty to murdering a man who was shot at a
pub in Wolverhampton, has been jailed for 23 years. A man described as a "gun
fanatic", who killed his mother by
shooting her several times in the head with a handgun and also shot dead
their four dogs at the family home in Hamworthy (Dorset), has
been jailed for a minimum of 10 years.
-
Another man was found guilty of two
counts of attempted murder after opening fire at police
officers in Manor House (north London) and has been jailed for 20
years.
-
A man who had already been
jailed for threatening two policemen with a shotgun has
been convicted of trying to kill a man in Cardonald (Glasgow).
-
Three men who carried out a
series of armed raids in Sheffield and shot one victim in
the foot with a shotgun have been jailed for a
total of almost fifty years.
-
A man was jailed for 15 years
after robbing security guards in Sittingbourne (Kent) - he had denied robbery, possessing a firearm, false
imprisonment and concealing criminal property. Five men
and two women have been given sentences ranging from 3 years
to 21 years for their various roles in a series of armed
robberies on banks, security guards and stores in Loughton
(Essex) and South Woodford, Romford and Harold Hill (London)
in which staff were threatened with a firearm.
-
Two men have been sentenced to
three years and three years and nine months after admitting
possessing firearms - they were arrested following an incident in
Norwich when two loaded shotguns were recovered after a shots
were fired in the street. A teenager has been given an
indeterminate sentence after he was caught with a converted
blank-firing pistol loaded with ten bullets in Handsworth Wood
(Birmingham).
-
A man was jailed for six years
after he admitted keeping a stolen army sub-machine gun and
ammunition at a flat in Glasgow - he has been given an
additional four years in jail.
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A 17-year-old from Merseyside
has admitted possession of a shotgun, a handgun and ammunition
- he was filmed assembling a shotgun for a BBC Panorama
programme. Another teenager from Merseyside caught who
was caught with a sawn-off shotgun and cocaine at his home in
Huyton has received a six year jail sentence. A
14-year-old boy has been given an 18-month detention and
training order for storing a Baikal semi-automatic pistol,
silencers and ammunition at his home in New Cross (south east
London).
-
A photographer from Rainham
(Kent) was given a suspended jail sentence after he admitted
having an illegal Colt 45 - the judge said he accepted that
his intent (to use the gun as a prop) was not malevolent and
that he did not know possession was illegal but it is hard to
understand how anyone would not know that ownership of a
handgun is illegal in Great Britain.
-
Three men were convicted of
possessing a stun gun:
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A lorry driver from Leith
who claimed to have bought the weapon for self defence against
criminals
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A man from Stockbridge Village
(Merseyside) who admitted possessing a prohibited weapon and was
given a suspended 50-week prison sentence
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A man arrested after a fight in
a bar in Leigh (Greater Manchester) who was found to have a stun
gun and has been jailed for 14 weeks after pleading guilty to
theft, possessing an illegal weapon and breaching his bail
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Airguns (Court Cases) -
There have been a number of cases in which men have used
airguns to threaten others including, in two instances, their
own children
-
A man threatened to blow up
his home in Tredworth (Gloucester) and pointed an air rifle at
his own son has been jailed for eight months after he admitted
having an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of
violence.
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A man from Bradford pointed an air rifle at his teenage
daughter and has been given a suspended one-year prison sentence.
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A man who brandished an airgun
at a paramedic following a suicide bid at his home in Dagenham
(east London) and then stole and crashed an ambulance has been
jailed for three years.
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A man who threatened a traffic
warden with an airgun in Hove (Sussex) pleaded guilty to
affray and was fined £200 and ordered to pay £300
compensation.
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A serving soldier who caused a
major alert when he opened fire with an air rifle across the
River Ayr near to where families were picnicking has admitted
causing a breach of the peace.
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A man who roamed the streets of
Cleator (Cumbria) armed with an air pistol and stun gun whilst
banned from ever owning guns has been sent to prison for
three-and-a-half years.
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A man who pleaded guilty to
culpably and recklessly discharging a firearm after he allowed
an air rifle to be fired at targets in his garden in Lerwick
(Shetland) has been fined and ordered to forfeit his rifle.
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A man from Tamworth
(Staffordshire) who bought a lethal, high-powered air rifle
from a car boot sale in order to "shoot rats" whilst he was
fishing has been jailed for nine months after he admitted
possessing an illegal firearm.
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A man from Alkrington (Greater
Manchester) who had collected a number of guns, two of which
were prohibited air weapons, was given a five year sentence
after pleading guilty to possessing two unlicensed illegal
firearms and a further 12 month sentence to run concurrently
for having an imitation firearm with him in a public place.
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Imitation Guns (Court Cases)
- There was more evidence of the use of imitation guns in armed robberies:
-
A member of an organised gang responsible for robberies in
Leeds and Manchester has been jailed for 12 years for
robbery and possessing an imitation firearm.
-
Two men
were jailed for 10 years and 7 years after denying armed
robbery in Westbury-on-Trym (Bristol) and possession of an
imitation firearm.
-
A man was given a 12 year jail
after admitting to 20 robberies on various premises in Greater
Manchester and London during which he had been armed with a
ball-bearing gun.
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Two men who were among a gang of
seven who forced their way into a house in Huyton (Merseyside)
and terrorised three children at gunpoint have been convicted
of attempted robbery, robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm and have been jailed for six-and-a-half and nine
years.
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A man has been jailed for
four-and-a-half years after robbing a post office in Thorpe St
Andrew (Norwich) whilst armed with an imitation gun.
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A suicidal man who terrified
passers-by in Cippenham (Berkshire) by thrusting a replica
handgun in their faces has been jailed for two years and nine
months.
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Two men who took pot shots at
youths with BB guns in Adwick (South Yorkshire) have each been
ordered to carry out 140 hours of community work.
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A 19-year-old has admitted
affray and possessing an imitation firearm in public after he
had been seen in a car in Wrexham holding what looked like a
gun.
FEBRUARY 2009 - SUMMARY
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
There were a number of shooting incidents in London which
resulted in serious injuries to the victims, three of whom died
from their injuries. Elsewhere, there were relatively few other
incidents in which people were hurt. There were, however, many
reports of robberies in which the suspects were armed with guns.
More evidence from February's incidents and court cases heard
during the month indicates that in a significant proportion of
these the weapon is likely to have been an imitation gun.
-
Gun
Deaths and Injuries - There were three fatal shooting
attacks during February all
of which took place in London, in Stonebridge, Tottenham and East Dulwich - the
victims were all in their mid-twenties and the murders are
being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident
(arrests have been made in connection with both the Stonebridge and
Tottenham shootings).
-
A man apparently committed
suicide by shooting himself in a park in Southampton - a pistol
was found. Another man was found dead with a gunshot
wound to his head in woods in Ottershaw, Surrey.
-
Shooting incidents in which
victims, more than half of them teenagers, were injured occurred
in:
-
London (9) - a teenager was in a
serious condition after being shot in Camberwell, two teenagers were
seriously injured in a shooting in Neasden (three people,
including boys aged 14 and 15 have been arrested), three
people suffered gunshots wounds in an incident outside a pub
in Greenwich and three teenagers were shot and injured in Hackney
-
Merseyside (3) - a man was shot in
the leg in Speke (a man has been arrested) and two teenagers
received gunshot wounds to the face in Norris Green (a
15-year-old boy was arrested and released on bail)
-
South Yorkshire (1) - a teenager was
shot in the head, though only injured slightly, in a pub car
park in Halfway (Sheffield)
-
Teesside (1) - a man suffered a
gunshot wound at a house in Thornaby
-
West Midlands (2) - two men were
taken to hospital after a drive-by shooting in Edgbaston
-
West Sussex (1) - a man was shot in
the head while at home in Burgess Hill
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a man was found
with a gunshot injury in Leeds
-
A man was pistol-whipped during
a robbery at a flat in Croydon (south London) and a newsagent
was violently assaulted when he was hit on the head with the
butt of a gun during a raid on a shop in Shawlands (Glasgow).
-
A man was arrested and a gun
recovered after another man was assaulted in Newton (Greater
Manchester).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies by men apparently armed with guns on:
-
Banks, Building Societies and
Post Offices -
in Harrogate (North Yorkshire) (see below), Bexhill-on-Sea
(East Sussex), Winsford (Cheshire), Woking (Surrey), Southampton
and Swansea
-
Betting shops - in Worthing (West
Sussex) and Llandudno (North Wales)
-
Petrol stations - in Marston
(Oxford) (see below), Benfleet (Essex) (a 19-year-old later
surrendered himself), Harlow (Essex) (a man has been arrested
and charged with robbery and possession of an imitation
firearm) and Deanshanger (Northamptonshire)
-
Shops - in Eastwood (Essex),
Gorton (Greater Manchester) (four young men were arrested and
two guns seized), Rochdale (a shotgun was fired as the robber
tried to escape), Wheatley
(Oxfordshire) (see below), Middlesbrough (the robber was armed
with a hammer and a BB gun), Milton Keynes, Slough
(Berkshire), Bedworth (Warwickshire) (a ball-bearing gun was
used), Wootton Bassett (Wiltshire) (a suspected imitation
firearm was found near a car used in the robbery), Shawlands
(Glasgow) (the shopkeeper was hit on the head with the butt of
a gun) and Slateford (Edinburgh) (an imitation shotgun was
used)
-
Security guards were robbed in
Daventry (Northamptonshire), Thetford (Norfolk), Easterhouse
and Riddrie (both in Glasgow)
-
There was a worrying number of
gunpoint robberies on homes.
-
Two women were robbed at a house
in Northern Moor (Manchester)
-
A couple were robbed of cash in
Epping (Essex) (the attackers were armed with a blank-firing
imitation weapon).
-
A man was pistol-whipped at
a flat in Croydon (south London) during a robbery (see above).
-
In Surrey a woman was tied up
and robbed at gunpoint in Weybridge, and in Bletchingley two
armed men burst into a house and
punched the homeowner.
-
In Northamptonshire a disabled
man was robbed in Kettering and an elderly couple were tied
up and robbed in Pipewell (three men and a woman have been
arrested).
-
An armed gang stole jewellery
and cash from a house in Shawlands (Glasgow).
-
In Essex a man was lured to an
ambush and robbed of cash in Theydon Bois, and a mother and
daughter were victims of a street robbery in Shoebury. A
motorist had his car stolen by four men armed with a handgun
in Liverpool.
-
Police found a gun on a train in
Reading and arrested four men, three of them teenagers, after
items and cash were stolen from a property in the town.
-
A man has been arrested by
police investigating two armed robberies in Harrogate (North
Yorkshire). A man has appeared in court
charged with four counts of robbery in connection with recent
incidents in Oxfordshire (in Marston and Wheatley during
February). A teenager from West Reading (Berkshire) has
denied one count of using a firearm to cause fear and violence
in people and one of attempted robbery.
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired at houses in Sarisbury Green (Hampshire) (this
was the second time in a month, three men have been arrested
and released on bail), Whalley Range (Greater Manchester) and
Shiregreen (Sheffield). A gun was reported to have been
fired at a house in Heaton (Bradford) in an incident which may
be linked to earlier reports of shots being fired in Lidget
Green.
-
A car was shot at in Heywood
(Greater Manchester) (two men have been charged with attempted
murder). Shots were fired in a street in Birmingham
where
a car was damaged.
-
A man in a car pulled a gun on a
teenager as he walked along a road in Worle (Somerset).
-
A man was held on suspicion of
supplying a firearm after an incident involving a hand grenade
in Hull. Two men were arrested in Hanley (Staffordshire)
in connection with firearms offences. Four men arrested
on the M6 near Stoke-on-Trent after reports
of a firearm being carried were released without charge.
-
Police investigating organised
dog fighting questioned a man and a woman arrested in
Drighlington (West Yorkshire) on suspicion of possession of a
dangerous dog, along with drugs and firearms offences.
-
A police helicopter was
scrambled after reports of a man with a gun in a nature
reserve in County Durham.
-
Airguns and
Imitation Guns - In all previous Summaries incidents
involving Imitation Guns were dealt with separately from those
involving Airguns. However, because of the confusion
over
definitions (see
GCN Comment) future
summaries will include them in one section.
-
Three men have been charged with
possession of a firearm without a certificate following the
death of a teenage girl who was shot in the head with an air
rifle at a party in Bury in December 2008.
-
Victims reported to
have been shot with airguns and imitations during February
included:
-
a teenager shot in the face when
an air rifle was fired at him in a park in Collier Row (east
London)
-
three teenagers hit when they
were shot at with an air rifle in Blacon (Chester)
-
a 9-year-old boy who was left
'covered in blood' after being shot in the head with a BB gun
in Plymouth
-
a man shot in the chest with
an air rifle in a
drive-by shooting in Nantwich (Cheshire)
-
A man was arrested after shots
were fired from the window of a flat in Manchester with what
is believed to have been an airgun. A street in Faifley
(West Dunbartonshire) was closed off after shots were
allegedly fired from an air weapon (a man was arrested).
-
Police seized an air rifle and
two knives from two men in Ashington (Northumberland) who have
been charged with affray.
-
There were a number of attacks
of vehicles:
-
Buses were fired at with an
airgun in North Baddesley (Hampshire) (shards of glass were
splattered over a passenger) and with a BB gun in Billericay
and Tiptree (both in Essex)
(windows were broken in both cases).
-
A car window was smashed by a
ball-bearing, probably fired from an airgun, in
Chester-le-Street (County Durham).
-
A parked car was hit with an
airgun pellet in Harwich (Essex).
A house window may have been
damaged by an air rifle or BB gun in Whitby (North Yorkshire).
Damage to homes, bus shelters and a community centre in Exwick
(Exeter) is believed to have been caused by an airgun.
-
Imitation firearms have been
linked to armed robberies carried out in Epping (Essex),
Middlesbrough, Bedworth (Warwickshire), Wootton Bassett
(Wiltshire), Harlow (Essex) and Slateford (Edinburgh).
It is very likely that the weapons used in many more of the armed robberies reported this month (see above)
were also imitation weapons.
-
Armed police swooped on a street
in Hove (Sussex) after reports of a man pointing a gun at a
baby - it turned out to be a toy gun.
-
Two teenagers were seen carrying
an airgun in Tile Hill (Coventry) in what is being described
as a "suspicious activity".
-
Police said that they have a duty to treat all reports of
firearms as genuine after they were alerted when a group of people attending a
party at a pub in Castle Donington (Leicestershire) were seen carrying
guns which turned out to be cap guns or water pistols.
-
Convictions - A 20-year-old has been convicted of killing
a teenager in Stoke Newington (north London) in a possible
gang-related shooting. Three men have been convicted of
the murder of a man shot dead with a sub-machine gun in
Romford (Essex).
-
A man has admitted the attempted
murder of his estranged wife's boyfriend whom he shot with a
shotgun near South Ormsby (Lincolnshire).
-
A man has been warned that a
custodial sentence is inevitable after he pleaded guilty to
possession of a gun and ammunition following a dispute between
opposing groups in Nottingham.
-
A man who fired a sawn-off
shotgun at a police officer in his patrol car in Loughton
(Essex) and had earlier shot a friend in the shoulder will
serve a minimum of 11 years in jail. Another man who
threatened two police officers with a gun after firing shots
in West Bromwich (West Midlands) has been jailed for ten
years.
-
A drug dealer was jailed for 10
years after being caught with cocaine, a sawn-off shotgun and
cartridges in Derby.
-
There were convictions for a
number of people caught possessing firearms:
-
A woman and a teenage boy have
been given custodial sentences of two-and-a-half and two
years, respectively, after a loaded self-loading pistol was
found at the woman's house in Levenshulme (Greater
Manchester).
-
A drug dealer was jailed for
seven years after a machine gun was found during a search of
his home in Mitcham (south London): the same gun had been used in
the murder of a man in Chingford in 2005.
-
A man has been jailed for five
years after pleading guilty to possessing of a 9 mm pistol and
ammunition found at his girlfriend's house in Newtown
(Birmingham).
-
Another man from Wymondham
(Norfolk) was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to
possession of a .22 revolver and ammunition he had shipped
from the USA and kept in storage.
-
A gun enthusiast and firearm
certificate holder from Ulceby (Lincolnshire) has been jailed
for three years after admitting conspiring to import a pistol
from the USA and to possessing a sawn-off shotgun, a
semi-automatic shotgun and an air weapon.
-
Two men admitted possessing an
illegal weapon after stun guns were found, one at a home in
Holcombe (Somerset), the other after a disturbance in
Darlaston (West Midlands).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns
(Court Cases) - see note above.
-
A man who had been drinking
fired a gas powered air pistol at friends working in a barbers
shop in Wall Heath (West Midlands) and fired shots in the
street: he was jailed for four years after admitting
possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
-
A man who threatened his
neighbour in Purley (Surrey) with an air rifle pleaded guilty
to possession of an imitation firearm and threatening
behaviour: he was warned that a custodial sentence was likely.
-
A man who threatened police with
an air rifle and a samurai sword in Bognor Regis (West Sussex)
has been warned he would face a jail term. Another man
who pointed an imitation shotgun, a paintball gun, at police
officers in Ilkeston (Derbyshire) has been given a one year
suspended jail sentence.
-
A man from Stourbridge
(Worcestershire) has been remanded in custody after admitting
being in possession of an imitation rifle with intent to cause
fear of violence.
-
A number of people appeared in
court after using airguns and imitation guns in robberies and
attempted robberies.
-
An 18-year-old has been jailed
for nine years after a robbery at a shop in Bradford in which
a ball-bearing gun was pointed at the shopkeeper.
-
A man
who pointed a BB gun at betting shop staff in Bothwell (South
Lanarkshire) during a robbery has pleaded guilty to presenting
an imitation firearm and demanding money and robbing one of
the staff.
-
A man has been jailed for two-and-a-half
years after he stole a BB gun in a burglary and then wielded
the weapon in Ipswich town centre, demanding a kebab from a
takeaway.
-
Three teenagers who were armed
with an airgun have been sentenced to six and seven years in
custody after robbing a betting shop in Bedworth
(Warwickshire) and speeding away in a stolen car.
-
A man has been jailed for 56
months after he pointed an imitation gun at a toddler at a
flat in Glasgow.
-
A boy who was given an air rifle
by his mother which he then used to threatened people in
Darlington has been given a two-year anti-social behaviour
order.
-
A 17-year-old has admitted being
in possessing of a machete and a loaded air rifle in a public
place in Norwich and has been given a six-month referral
order.
-
A man who stole knives and an
air rifle from a flat in Birchwood (Cheshire) has been jailed
for eight months.
-
An ex-prisoner who was not
permitted to have a firearm as a condition of his release pleaded guilty
to possessing a firearm and ammunition following an incident
in St Neots (Cambridgeshire) when he pointed an air rifle out
of a window: he was given an 18-month conditional discharge. A man from Ambleside (Cumbria)
who had a dismantled air rifle at his home whilst he was
banned from being in possession of a firearm has been jailed
for 12 months.
-
A shooting enthusiast who was caught
storing an air rifle without a proper certificate at his home
in Hastings was fined £65.
MARCH 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun
Deaths and Injuries - There were nine fatal shootings
reported during March, five of which were apparent homicides,
but the number of shooting incidents which resulted in serious
injury was fewer than in the preceding month.
-
Three of the homicides occurred in London, in
Mottingham (a man has been charged with murder), Tottenham
(the victim was 18-years-old, and two men have been arrested)
and Holloway (the victim's
son was also shot and seriously injured). The other victims
died as a result of apparent domestic incidents in Yorkshire,
a woman was shot at a house in Thorne (South Yorkshire) (her
partner is facing charges) and a man died at a house in Eccleshill
(West Yorkshire) (a second man who also shot was in a critical
condition, and a third man is being sought by police).
-
A 15-year-old boy was killed
after being shot with an air rifle whilst target shooting with
two other teenagers in his garden in Hayes (west London).
-
Three men were found dead with
shotgun wounds in circumstances which the police are not
describing as suspicious. Their bodies were discovered
in Didcot (Oxfordshire), near Gainfield
(Oxfordshire) and between
Caerphilly and
Rhondda Cynon Taf (South Wales)
-
In addition to the above
incidents others which resulting in injuries occurred in:
-
Bedfordshire (1) - a man was
shot whilst he was getting out of his car in Luton
-
Glasgow (1) - a man was shot a
number of times in his car in Springburn after being chased by
men in another car
-
Greater Manchester (1) - a man
was shot in the buttocks in Glodwick
-
London (2) - a suspected gunshot
victim was found in a street in Finsbury Park, and a man
received shotgun wounds to both legs in a shooting in Brockley
(a man has been arrested and bailed)
-
Merseyside (2) - two male
victims were shot in the leg in separate attacks in Huyton and
Stockbridge Village
-
Tyneside (1) - an 8-year-old boy
was left critically ill after receiving shotgun wounds at a
site in Gateshead
-
West Midlands (3) - a man was
shot in Bushbury (another man has been charged with attempted
murder and firearms offences), another victim was shot with
what was believed to be a pistol outside his home in Small
Heath and a third man needed
hospital treatment after he was shot in Stoke (Coventry)
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a man was shot
in the chest in Bradford (two men have been bailed in
connection with the incident)
-
A man was hit on the head with a
pistol during an attempted robbery at a house in Botley
(Oxfordshire).
-
A 13-year-old boy was arrested
after fellow schoolchildren were attacked with a stun gun in
Leamington Spa (Warwickshire).
-
There were, however, more gun
victims who were injured by shots from air weapons and imitation guns (see below).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies by men apparently armed with guns at:
-
Banks, Building Societies and
Post Offices - in Birkdale (Lancashire), Melsonby (North Yorkshire),
Helsby (Cheshire), Guide (Lancashire), Droylsden (Greater Manchester)
(a bank and a building society were robbed by the same gang; a
police officer fired a shot at the getaway vehicle after a
shotgun was pointed at him), and Greatworth (Northamptonshire)
(two men have been arrested)
-
Betting Shops - in Aldershot
(Hampshire), Hoole
(Cheshire), Watford (Hertfordshire) and Netherfield (Nottingham)
-
Business Premises - in Harlow
(Essex) (the robbers claimed to have a gun though no weapon
was seen)
-
Petrol Stations - in Manton
(Nottinghamshire), Market
Harborough (Leicestershire) and Newport (Shropshire) (a man has
been arrested)
-
Pubs - in Hucknall
(Nottinghamshire) and North Shields (Tyneside)
-
Shops - in Maidenhead
(Berkshire), York (three men are in custody after an armed
robbery at a jewellers), Wolverhampton (two attacks on the
same shop occurred within a week), Bromley (south London),
Poole (Dorset), Widnes (Cheshire) (two separate robberies), Maghull (Merseyside), Coleshill (Warwickshire),
Radford (Nottingham) (two men were arrested), Southend-on-Sea
(Essex) and Old Colwyn (North Wales)
(a customer was shot in the neck with a BB gun; three men have
been arrested and charged)
-
Some of the robberies in
Cheshire were apparently carried out by a man who had
escaped from court in December 2008: he has since been caught and
charged with 14 new offences.
-
Security men were robbed of a
large amount of cash by armed men in Uddingston (Lanarkshire).
-
There were attacks on houses by armed
men in Botley (Oxfordshire) (a man was hit on the head with a
pistol and his partner stabbed during he attempted robbery)
and
Robroyston (Glasgow). A couple were robbed at gunpoint
whilst walking through a car park on Haverstock Hill (north
London).
-
A taxi driver was robbed at
gunpoint in Bolton (Greater Manchester).
-
A truck driver was stunned with
a stun gun and dumped as his truck and load were stolen from
outside an industrial estate in Saltley (Birmingham).
Another lorry driver was hijacked at Fulwood (Preston) and
forced to drive to Walsall and Gloucestershire; the
robbers were also armed with a stun gun.
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired in a number of other
incidents:
-
A family were trapped inside
their home in Birkdale (Lancashire) when a gunman opened fire
-
Shots were fired at a house in
Huyton (Merseyside)
-
A masked man fired several shots into a
taxi office in Buttershaw (West Yorkshire)
-
A shotgun was fired through the
window of a pub in Anstey (Leicestershire)
-
Four teenagers and a man were
arrested after a shotgun was fired at a party in Oxfordshire
where a teenage girl was sexually assaulted
-
A car thief threatened to shoot a police
officer after a stolen car was stopped in Greater Manchester:
the gunman escaped towards Ardwick railway station.
-
A man who threatened another man
in a pub in Christchurch (Dorset) was later arrested. A
man was charged with a number of offences, including four
contraventions of the Firearms Act, following an apparent armed
abduction in Grangemouth (Stirlingshire).
-
Police recovered a handgun after
a man was seen brandishing a gun in the street in Burslem
(Staffordshire). A man wielding a gun in Loughborough
(Leicestershire) was arrested after being shot with a baton
fired by the police.
-
A mother fought and disarmed a
teenager brandishing two pistols after he threatened to shoot
her son in Crawley (West Sussex).
-
A man was reported to the
procurator fiscal after a firearms incident in Inverness.
-
A teenager was arrested when a
school in Clifton (Bedfordshire) was evacuated after he had told a
pupil that he would shoot him.
-
A police firearms team was
despatched to Wookey (Somerset) after a resident heard a
series of shouts and screaming followed by what she believed to
be a gunshot: no evidence of a shooting was found.
-
A man charged with murder after
a stabbing in Greenwich (south east London) has also been
charged with firearms offences.
-
A man who had shotgun cartridges
in his pocket by mistake has described how security at Bristol
Airport failed to detect them.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Guns being found
during a number of police operations, in some of which drugs were also recovered:
-
Stun guns were found during
raids in Hounslow (west London), Hartlepool, Chesham (Buckinghamshire)
and Pinehurst (Swindon)
-
Guns were found during raids in
Greater Manchester (a man and a woman were arrested) and
Blaina (South Wales) (a man was arrested for unlawful
possession of a firearm)
-
Police found a loaded gun
stuffed into a sock after they chased two men in Battersea
(south London) (a man has been charged).
-
A gun was recovered by
police from under a hut in Merridale (Wolverhampton)
-
Guns were discovered in cars in
Littleborough (Greater Manchester) (a shotgun was found and
man has been charged with possession of a prohibited firearm)
and in Whitworth (Lancashire) (a prohibited Brocock airgun was
found, one man has been charged and another recalled to prison). Police seized an air pistol and a large amount
of cash when two cars were stopped in Torquay (Devon) (two men
have been arrested).
-
Ammunition was recovered by
police from a
house in Huddersfield (West Yorkshire). A bag of 9mm bullets was
discovered by a member of the public in the centre of
Manchester.
-
Three shotguns, stolen during a
burglary in Boughton Lees (Kent), were recovered from the
River Stour in Chartham.
-
A paintball gun, an imitation of
a Second World War assault rifle, was stolen from a car in
Hereford.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - A 15-year-old was killed by a
shot from an air rifle whilst target shooting in his back
garden in Hayes (west London).
-
A number of innocent victims
were hit by pellets fired from airguns and BB guns, and as we pointed out in our recently-prepared
list of
airgun
incidents these victims are often young or female:
-
A woman from Cobham (Surrey),
who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has been terrorised by
youths has been shot at with an air rifle.
-
Air rifle snipers hit two women
in Longridge (Lancashire) (two teenagers were arrested)
-
A PCSO was shot in the back with
an air rifle in Grantham (Lincolnshire) (a man has been
charged with common assault and firing an air weapon beyond a
premises)
-
A 13-year-old girl required
surgery to remove an airgun pellet after being shot in Anfield
(Liverpool)
-
A man was hit by an airgun
pellet whilst walking in
the street in Watford (Hertfordshire)
-
A woman was shot with an airgun near to a
primary school in Sheerness (Kent) and required hospital
treatment
-
An 8-year-old boy needed
stitches after being shot in the head with an airgun whilst riding his
mini-motorbike in a field in Crewe (Cheshire)
-
A teenager injured a 12-year-old
pupil when he fired a ball-bearing gun in the grounds of a
school in York
-
A teenager was shot with a BB
gun in a fast food restaurant in Stafford
-
An elderly man was shot in the
face with a BB gun in Easingwold (North Yorkshire)
-
A supermarket customer was hit
in the neck with a BB gun pellet during an attempted robbery
in Old Colwyn (North Wales) (see above)
-
A man injured in the stomach in
Fazakerley (Merseyside) was later reported to have been shot with
a pellet gun
-
A man was arrested after shots
were fired from an air rifle in Barry (South Wales).
-
A woman armed with two BB guns
caused an alert at a secure mental health unit in Rainhill
(Merseyside): she has been detained under the Mental Health
Act. A man subsequently found to have been armed with a
BB gun was hit with a rubber bullet by police in Falmouth
(Cornwall) and then charged with possessing an imitation
firearm.
-
A teenager appeared in court
following an incident which is alleged to have involved a
gas-powered BB gun in Middleport (Staffordshire). A man was arrested and an air
weapon recovered after someone allegedly threatened youths in
Alcester (Warwickshire). Another man has denied possession of a
firearm after a dispute over a taxi fare in Middlesbrough in
which an air pistol was apparently involved.
-
A man has been charged with
having a firearm in his possession with intent to cause
another man to believe that unlawful violence would be used
against him and with stealing a gat gun from a farm in Stanley
(Perthshire).
-
Five people were held under the
Terrorism Act after imitation guns, including an imitation
Kalashnikov rifle, were found by police at an address in
Plymouth: the find was linked to the forthcoming G20 summit.
-
Air weapons caused damage to property:
-
Airgun pellets were fired at a
house in Pevensey Bay (East Sussex)
-
Thousands of pounds worth of
damage has been caused to historic windows at a church in
Darwen (Lancashire)
-
Extensive damage has been done to a
primary school's windows in an air rifle attack in Trannack
(Cornwall)
-
There have been a series of airgun shootings
in Trawden (Lancashire) where a pub and a home have recently
been damaged
-
Homes in two areas of Halifax
(West Yorkshire) were shot at with what is thought to have
been an air rifle
-
Damage was caused to the door of
a home in Skipton (North Yorkshire)
-
The window of a TV studio in
Cardiff was shot at with an airgun.
-
and to vehicles:
-
A teenager was arrested after an
incident with a replica gun on a bus travelling between
Canterbury and Whitstable (Kent).
-
Two girls have been expelled
from a school in Alcester (Warwickshire) after BB guns were
found there. A primary school pupil was
suspended after taking a ball bearing gun to school in South
Croydon (south London) and waving it at girls in the
playground.
-
An estate in Wokingham
(Berkshire) has been plagued with anti-social behaviour,
including shooting with BB guns.
-
Incidents Involving Animals - There were more
airgun attacks on cats, this month reported from
Aberdeenshire, Berkshire, Bristol, Derbyshire, Hertfordshire and
Staffordshire (two attacks in different towns) and Wiltshire.
A cat in Lincolnshire was shot in the face with a shotgun.
-
A dog was shot with an airgun in front of a 5-year-old boy
and his mother in Corsham (Wiltshire).
-
There were also further attacks on swans
in Godstone Green (Surrey) and Wednesfield (West Midlands) on
a canal where attacks have taken place previously and airguns
may have been used to kill two swans found dead in Silksworth
(Sunderland).
-
A buzzard was shot in
Aglionby (Cumbria), where in the last three months five other carcasses
have been found on a golf course.
-
Convictions - A man who shot an intruder with a shotgun at
his home in Chilham (Kent) was acquitted of murder.
-
Three men have been sentenced
for their involvement in an incident in which a man was shot
in the leg in a garden in Allenton (Derbyshire): the sentences
were six years, nine years and 95 days and 20 years.
-
A man has admitted firing a
shotgun in Worksop (Nottinghamshire) but denied attempted murder.
Two men have admitted firing a shotgun at a pub in Broomhouse
(Edinburgh). A man who fired a shotgun at a group of
youths in Bridgend (South Wales), injuring a 16-year-old,
pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent and
common assault and was jailed for 20 months.
-
Three men who were involved in
attacks on others in the southside of Glasgow, during which
they pointed a gun or similar weapon, have been jailed for a
total of 11-and-a-half years.
-
A man from Hevingham (Norfolk)
who pointed a loaded shotgun at his ex-wife while she lay in
bed has been jailed for three years.
-
A man involved in an armed
robbery at a hotel in Brislington (Bristol) has been found
guilty of robbery and having a handgun with intent to rob.
An offender who was involved in a number of gunpoint robberies
in the south of England after he escaped from a prison van in
Barking (east London) has been jailed for 16 years: two other
men involved in the escape, in which they brandished pistols,
and a robbery were jailed for four years and ten years.
Another man, who was part of a gang that raided shops in
Newmarket and Barrow (Suffolk), has been jailed for eight
years.
-
An Army sergeant has pleaded
guilty to brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle at a barracks in
Minley (Hampshire).
-
A man who was stopped in
Walthamstow (north east London) in possession of a gun and then fled
to Spain was extradited and has admitted a string of offences
including possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing a
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and an attempted
robbery 10 years ago: he was jailed for a total of 15 years. Another
man from Walthamstow who was convicted for counterfeiting
offences had been jailed for eight years for possession of a
gun and ammunition.
-
A number of people have been
convicted after firearms were found:
-
A man from Wolverhampton and his
teenage girlfriend have been jailed for nine years and
four-and-a-half years after admitting possession of a shotgun
and cocaine.
-
A man from New Eltham (south
east London) has been jailed for seven years after a police
raid revealed a stash of weapons at his home.
-
Another man has been jailed for
15 years after being found guilty of a string of firearms and
drug offences including supplying weapons: police found drugs, a pistol and almost 200 bullets at his girlfriend's
flat in Salford.
-
A man who kept an Uzi
sub-machine gun under his bed at his home in Knotty Ash
(Merseyside) has been jailed for 12 years for possession of
the gun and ammunition and for drug offences.
-
A teenager from Cardiff who was
minding a gun for a gang admitted possession of the firearm
and ammunition and was sentenced to five years in a young
offenders' institution.
-
A gun enthusiast who hoarded
military memorabilia pleaded guilty to illegal possession of
ammunition, missiles and firearms without a certificate as
well as possession of articles with a blade at his home in
Chorley (Lancashire) and was given 24-week suspended prison
sentence.
-
There were convictions of a
number of men over possession of stun guns:
-
A man from Rowley Regis (West
Midlands) who admitted arming himself with a stun gun during a
dispute with neighbours was given a 12 month suspended jail
sentence and placed under supervision for two years.
-
A man who tried to bring a stun
gun into the country from Thailand and was caught at Edinburgh
Airport pleaded guilty to charges under the firearms act.
-
Another who attempted to bring stun guns and drugs into the
country from Thailand through Heathrow Airport has been jailed
for three and a half years.
-
Another man has admitted having a prohibited weapon after a
stun gun and drugs were found at his house in Annan
(Dumfriesshire).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases) -
A teenager has pleaded guilty to robbery and possession of an
imitation firearm after a man was robbed outside a restaurant
in Harpenden (Hertfordshire). Another teenager received
a four year sentence after an attempted robbery in Baillieston
(Glasgow) during which he pointed a ball bearing pistol at the
shopkeeper. A man who made and used a fake firearm as
well as a knife during five robberies in Headington (Oxford)
has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
-
A man who pointed an air rifle
at people in the vicinity of his house in Grimsby
(Lincolnshire) after an egg was thrown at him has been given a
12 month community order and ordered to complete 80 hours
unpaid work. A man who threatened a neighbour in
Staining (Lancashire) with an air pistol during a domestic
dispute has received a 21 month jail sentence. Another
man who repeatedly fired an air pistol to "frighten" a group
of men who attacked him in Edinburgh has pleaded guilty to a
breach of the peace and possessing a firearm in a public
place.
-
A newspaper reported that a man
who fired an airgun at his neighbours in Lanchester (County
Durham) during a catalogue of violence has been allowed to
move back into his house after a six month ban: he had been
given a suspended six month jail sentence.
-
A man who aimed a ball bearing
gun at police in Birkenhead (Merseyside) in the hope they
would shoot him has been jailed for 20 months.
-
A man admitted firing a
paintball gun at a colleague at a paintball centre in Ratho
(Edinburgh), causing his victim long term damage to his eye.
-
A man has admitted uttering
threats of violence, holding a gun to a woman's head and
having a BB gun in his possession after a dispute at a house
in Motherwell (Lanarkshire)
-
A man has been fined £600 for
terrifying a group of boys by following them with an air rifle
in Ardrossan (Ayrshire).
-
A man has admitted having an
unloaded air pistol without reasonable excuse in Hawick
(Scottish Borders). Another man who walked through an
industrial estate in Ayr with an air rifle has had his
sentence deferred for six months.
APRIL 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
Four people were reported to have been killed in shooting
incidents during April.
-
Following a double shooting in
Dousland (Devon) it was reported that a man who collected
antique guns
had shot his partner and then killed himself.
-
A man was shot dead and a second
victim injured in a
targeted attack in Huddersfield (West Yorkshire): two men have
been arrested.
-
A 20-year-old man was shot in a street in
Handsworth (Birmingham).
-
Other shooting incidents which resulted
in injury occurred in:
-
Bedfordshire (2) - there were two
separate shootings in Luton, one in which a teenager was shot
whilst getting out of a taxi and another in which the victim
was shot on his doorstep - there was also a third shooting in the
town involving an airgun (see below)
-
London (4) - a teenager was shot in
the lower back in Hainault, another teenager was shot in an estate
in Brixton, a man was shot in the head in Thornton Heath and another was in a life-threatening conditioning after a shooting in
Gospel Oak
-
Merseyside (4) - shooting incidents
which resulted in injury occurred in Kensington (a gunman went
into the victim's house), Croxteth (three men shot a teenager in a
pub) and Prescot (two victims were shot)
-
Strathclyde (1) - a man was
seriously injured when he was shot on his doorstep in
Paisley: a man has been charged
-
West Midlands (1) - a man arrived at hospital with gunshot wounds,
and his shooting may be
linked to reports of a gun fired in Lee Bank and the arrest of
three people after police found drugs
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a second man
was injured during the fatal shooting in Huddersfield (see
above)
-
There were a number of incidents
involving airguns and imitation weapons in which the victims
were injured (see below).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies in which a gun is alleged to have been
used at:
-
Bookmakers - in Shaw (Greater
Manchester), Worthing (West Sussex) and Walsall (West Midlands)
-
An Estate Agents - in Kingswood
(Surrey)
-
An Hotel - in Walsall (West
Midlands)
-
A Petrol Station - in North
Shields (Tyneside)
-
Post Offices - in Bleasby and Watnall (Nottinghamshire) (a man
was later arrested in connection with these and an earlier
raid in the county) and Padstow (Cornwall)
-
Shops - in Cardiff, Portsmouth
(a man has been charged with attempted robbery and possession
of a firearm), Colchester (Essex), Brighton (the perpetrator, who
wielded an imitation gun, was tackled by staff and customers)
and
Drumchapel (Glasgow)
-
Security guards were robbed in
Thornaby (Teesside) (the suspects were chased to Manchester
by police where one man was eventually caught) and Pudsey (West
Yorkshire).
-
A car was stolen at gunpoint in
Anfield (Merseyside) and a man was later arrested after it
crashed into a lamppost. Another car was stolen by two
men armed with a gun in Rochdale (Greater Manchester).
-
One man was robbed when two men
threatened the occupants of a car in Bromsgrove
(Worcestershire) with a crossbow and a ball bearing gun or air
weapon. Another man, who was in his car in Hook Heath
(Surrey), was injured when he was robbed of a large sum of
money by two men who threatened him with what is thought to
have been a gun.
-
A man who presented what
appeared to be a firearm at another man in Paisley stole the
victim's bank card.
-
Other Incidents - A teenager charged with the murder of
his girlfriend, who died following a fire in Arbroath, has
also been charged with discharging a firearm.
-
A man escaped injury after his
car was shot at in Prestwich (Greater Manchester). Shots
were fired from a handgun at a taxi in Coventry (a man was
charged with two counts of attempted murder and possession of
a firearm). Another man was lucky to survive an attack
on his doorstep in Barton (Oxford) when his attackers fired a
shot at point-blank range which missed him and hit the wall
behind. Another victim was targeted on his doorstep in
Gilmerton (Edinburgh) by two men, probably armed with a
shotgun, but he slammed the door in their face - the gun was fired in the
street.
-
Four men were arrested on
suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger
life after a shotgun was reportedly fired from a car in Woking
(Surrey). Several gunshots were fired in Possilpark
(Glasgow), but police were uncertain whether they were aimed at
anyone in particular. A shotgun was fired at a car in a
street in Halifax (West Yorkshire).
-
A man was charged with a public
order offence after allegedly making threats with a
legally-held firearm near a school in Hooke (Dorset).
-
Shots were fired at houses in
Wavertree (Merseyside), Dunscroft (South Yorkshire) and Low Moor
(Bradford) (the shooting may be related to a dispute over a
bike).
-
An historic cross at
Stocksbridge (South Yorkshire) had its bulbs shot out twice,
probably with a shotgun.
-
Police responded to other
incidents in which firearms were apparently seen:
-
A passer-by saw a small black
handgun carried by a group in Stoke-on-Trent: no weapon was
found.
-
A man was arrested after he had
barricaded himself into a loft in Girvan (Ayrshire) after
police received a report of a man with a gun.
-
Armed police were called to a
church and a college in Bridgwater (Somerset) after reports of
a man being spotted with a firearm.
-
A man was arrested after a
"domestic report" that someone had a gun at an address at
Southsea (Hampshire).
-
Bus windows have been shattered
in Stanway (Essex): one driver said the impact marks suggested
that it was "not just an airgun".
-
A man was cautioned after trying
to sell a shotgun from his car boot in Swineshead
(Lincolnshire).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - Further evidence that, in
spite of recent legislation, some traders are still selling
imitation firearms came from
Blackpool where trading standards officers took various goods
off sale including ball bearing guns.
-
There were more victims of
airgun and BB gun attacks during April. GCN is aware of
at least 18 people hit with pellets, nine of whom were females, three of them
young girls.
-
Three women were shot in the
head, one in her garden in Lincoln, another whilst walking in
Harwich (Essex) (she needed stitches after the pellet was
removed in hospital) and the third in Aberdeen.
-
Another woman was with her
baby when she was shot in the hand at a bus stop in Rainscough (Greater
Manchester) (two boys have been arrested for causing grievous
bodily harm with intent). A teenage woman had to have a
pellet removed in hospital after being shot with an airgun in
Wyberton (Lincolnshire).
-
A young girl was shot in the leg
with an "air rifle-style pellet" in Frimley (Surrey) and an
11-year-old girl was shot with an airgun whilst she queued for an ice cream
in Huyton (Merseyside).
-
A 9-year-old was shot three
times in the face, neck and leg with BB gun pellets as she
played near her home in Grimsby.
-
A man was shot in the eye with
an airgun in a park in Luton (Bedfordshire) and another was
hit whilst he was walking in a street in Loughborough
(Leicestershire) (two teenagers have been arrested).
Another male victim suffered leg injuries when he was shot in
Whitehaven (Cumbria) and a school caretaker was shot in the
forehead with an air weapon in Middlesbrough.
-
Two footballers were hit with
airgun pellets at the end of a match in South Wales.
-
Three people, two men and a
woman, were hit with what they believe were airgun pellets in
separate incidents in Norwich.
-
A man was hit in the face after
a BB gun was fired from a car in Pangbourne (Berkshire).
-
A boy who shot at an aerosol can
with an airgun in his back garden in Pentre (Flintshire)
suffered serious burns when the can exploded.
-
Two men repeatedly fired a ball
bearing gun at a man on a street and at a house in Barrhead
(Renfrewshire).
-
Police had to deal with a number
of other incidents involving imitation guns:
-
Two BB guns were seized from two
boys who were seen waving them in Epsom (Surrey)
-
A man was arrested after reports
he was taking potshots with a BB gun and wielding a samurai
sword in Plymouth
-
A man who resisted arrest in
Shoebury (Essex) whilst armed with an imitation gun is due to
appear in court
-
A youth involved in a game
with realistic-looking replica firearms sparked a
firearms response when he was seen with two guns
-
Two men found with two plastic
BB guns were arrested in Wolverhampton
-
Five men were arrested after a
man was threatened with a handgun in Crewe (Cheshire) (an
imitation firearm was found later)
-
Police also had to deal with a number
of other incidents involving airguns:
-
A man has been charged with two
counts of common assault and possession of an air weapon after
allegedly being seen with a gun in Hull
-
A man was arrested in Grimsby
and an air weapon recovered after a man was reported getting
into a car with what looked to be a firearm
-
Police
conducted house-to-house inquiries in Dundee after a man was
seen brandishing an air rifle
-
A man was charged
under the Explosive Substances Act 1883 and the Firearms Act
after he was found to be in possession of several bottles of
fluid and an airgun in Motherwell.
-
A man who confronted two
engineers with an air rifle when they went to fix an
electrical fault at a caravan site near Belbroughton
(Worcestershire) was given advice by police
-
A man tried to carry two guns
into court in Consett (County Durham): when he was barred from
entering he took the air pistol and air rifle back to a
limousine.
-
In Cambridgeshire, a number of shop windows in
Chatteris were damaged (it is thought
the damage could have been caused by an air rifle) and in
Eaton Socon the rear window of a property was shot with what
was believed to be an air rifle. A church in Northfields
(west London) was damaged in an airgun attack.
-
Damage worth £35,000 was caused to a windows at a school in
Poole (Dorset) by slingshots and BB guns
-
It was reported that an air
pistol had been confiscated from a girl at a school in
Sandwell (West Midlands) earlier this year.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Two officers from Durham
Constabulary have been arrested or suspended during an inquiry
into the sale of firearms (shotguns and rifles) that had been
handed into the force.
-
A shotgun and cartridges were
recovered from houses in Dalton and Crosland Moor (West
Yorkshire): a man was arrested.
-
Guns were also recovered from
properties during raids in which drugs were found:
-
In Wigan where a stun
gun and cash were recovered: a man and a teenage girl were
arrested
-
At five addresses in Carlton,
Bestwood and Broxtowe (Nottinghamshire) where drugs and two
firearms were found
-
In Chapeltown (Leeds)
where a gun and heroin were seized
-
In Swallwell
(Tyneside) where cash, an air rifle and blue tablets were
recovered
-
In Wetherby (West
Yorkshire) where heroin and a stun gun were found: a man was
in custody
-
Nine people were detained on a
variety of charges after raids on four suspected brothels in
London and Hertfordshire during which a stun gun was recovered.
-
Police in Preston have seized
two genuine guns and eight imitation weapons since January.
-
A rucksack contained a
ball-bearing gun and a Stanley knife was found in a car park
in Tring (Hertfordshire).
-
A gun collection was stolen from
a remote farmhouse near Wray (Lancashire). A pair of
shotguns was stolen from a car in Owston Ferry (Lincolnshire)
and a shotgun, rifle and ammunition were taken from a house in
Framlingham (Suffolk).
-
Incidents Involving Animals - There has been no let up in the
attacks on animals and birds, especially cats. There were
reports of at least 15 cats being shot with airguns in Aberdeen, Cornwall,
Coventry, Devon, Dorset, Herefordshire, Hull, Kent (two
incidents),
Lancashire, Nottingham (two incidents),
Somerset, Sussex and Wiltshire. Another missing cat is believed to have been
shot dead in Angus.
-
An animal care complex in Bath
has appealed for help in looking after a dog found riddled
with airgun pellets.
-
Two birds, a swan rescued in
Buckinghamshire and a goose that had been attacked by a dog in
Staffordshire, were both found to have airgun pellets in their
bodies.
-
A 13-year-old boy was convicted
of repeatedly shooting at two dogs and a cat with a
ball-bearing gun in Whitley (Reading).
-
Court Cases - A number of men were convicted of murder and
attempted murder following the deaths of two men who were shot
in Manchester: five of them received sentences of more than
32 years.
-
A man who put a gun to a woman's
mouth in woods near Banbury (Oxfordshire) because she owed him
money was convicted of various offences: he had previously
been found guilty of shooting a man who also owed him money.
-
A man was jailed for seven years
for a robbery in Stevenage (Hertfordshire) in which the victim was pistol
whipped. A man pleaded guilty to charges
of robbery and possessing a firearm after he handed himself in,
ten years after the incident in Bath: he was given a 2 year jail
sentence.
-
Two brothers were each jailed
for eight years for storing guns at a property in Haydock
(Merseyside). A teenager who kept a loaded submachine
gun in a rucksack at his home in Tulse Hill (south London) has
been jailed for nine years.
-
A man was jailed for six years
(five for a firearm offence) after an illegal revolver and
child abuse images were found at his home in Standish (Greater
Manchester).
-
A number of men admitted or
were found guilty of offences involving shotguns:
-
Four men have been convicted of
robbery and two of them were found guilty of wounding with
intent following the shooting of a female police officer at a
pub in Bamber Bridge (Lancashire): she was hit 12 times in the
thigh when one of the men fired a sawn-off shotgun.
-
A third man has been jailed, for
six years and nine months, after he admitted possessing a
prohibited weapon and possessing a firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence after a sawn-off shotgun was pointed at
a family in Elland (West Yorkshire)
-
A man who was shot in the street
in Chapeltown (Leeds) but fired back with a sawn-off shotgun
has admitted possession of a prohibited firearm and has been
jailed for five years
-
Another man was found guilty of
possessing a banned weapon (a sawn-off shotgun) at his home in
Huddersfield (West Yorkshire) and was jailed for five years
-
A man from Walton (Merseyside)
was jailed for five years nine months for possessing a
sawn-off shotgun that was found in his loft
-
A man from Worksop
(Nottinghamshire) has admitted robbing a petrol station and
possessing a sawn-off shotgun
-
A man from Little Downham
(Cambridgeshire) who kept a shotgun in his
kitchen with a box of ammunition without having a certificate
was fined £250
-
A man from Exmouth (Devon) has
admitted possessing a shotgun without authority but a charge
of possessing the gun with intent to cause fear of violence to
his wife was dropped.
-
After police found a sawn-off
shotgun in a wardrobe at a home in Houghton Regis
(Bedfordshire) a man has been convicted of possessing a
firearm.
-
A Lithuanian who was caught
trying to enter the UK at the Channel Tunnel control zone with
a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and three blank cartridges has
been given a five year jail sentence.
-
A man from Buxton (Derbyshire)
has appeared in court charged with possession of a shortened
single barrel .420 shotgun and also faces an allegation of
purchasing cartridges without a firearm certificate.
-
A gun collector from West
Bridgford (Nottingham) was given a 12-month suspended prison
sentence after admitting three offences of possessing a
firearm and ammunition without a certificate.
-
Two teenagers from Pinehurst
(Wiltshire) pleaded guilty to drugs charges and one admitted
having a stun gun and they have been jailed for a year and 14
months.
-
Inquests - A coroner
recorded that a man, who was a keen shooter and held a firearms
licence, killed his wife and daughter at Maesbrook
(Shropshire) by shooting them in the head before killing
himself, dying of smoke inhalation.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns
(Court Cases) - A recent research paper (Wheal & Tilley,
Howard Journal 48, 172-189) has confirmed GCN's
perspective that a high proportion of gun-enabled crime
involves imitation guns. There was further evidence from
court cases this month that imitation weapons are being used
in armed raids:
-
Two cousins who robbed a bank in
Bebington (The Wirral) were armed with a ball bearing gun:
they have been jailed for seven years four months
-
A man, who was one of a gang of
three that attempted to rob a shop in Barnoldswick
(Lancashire) whilst armed with a fake military rifle, has been
given a five year custodial sentence
-
A man responsible for three
robberies in the Bristol area who was caught on CCTV wielding
a toy gun has been jailed for seven years
-
A man who used a water pistol
when he held up a bank in Brentwood (Essex) was given a three
and a half year sentence
-
Two men were sentenced to four
years and six years for an armed robbery in Newport in which
the assailant was armed with an imitation firearm
-
A teenager, who shot his friend in
the arm with an air rifle in Shevington Nook (Lancashire) and
immediately regretted it, was given a suspended 12 month prison
sentence and ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.
-
A man who shot at a neighbour
and police in Dumbarton with an air rifle has been given a 40
months prison sentence
-
A man who took an imitation
handgun to a pub in Highcliffe (Dorset) has admitted
possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of
violence and been jailed for two and a half years.
-
A man from Cheltenham
(Gloucestershire) who fired an air rifle from his bedroom
window has been given a £200 fine, and his weapon will be
forfeited and destroyed. A man who fired an air rifle at
a house name sign in Callander (Perthshire) awaits sentence.
-
A man spotted by police with an
air rifle in a car park in Cardigan pleaded guilty to
possessing a loaded air weapon in a public place was give a
six month community order.
-
An alcoholic found with an air
pistol in a bag in a car park in Aspley (West Yorkshire)
admitted being drunk and disorderly but was found not guilty
of carrying an air weapon in public without reasonable excuse.
-
There are frequent cases of men
who are prohibited from possessing a weapon through previous
convictions being in possession of airguns. There were
two more this month:
-
A man from Rugby (Warwickshire)
was jailed for ten months for possessing an air pistol which
he claimed he had bought for target practice in his garden
-
A man from Scarborough (North
Yorkshire) was given a 21 month sentence after he was caught
in possession of an air rifle and for a later incident
involving a hammer
MAY 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
Seven people, all males, died in shooting incidents during May.
-
Four
of the deaths were apparent homicides: two of the victims were shot in
south London (Wandsworth, West Croydon), a teenager was killed
in Stretford (Greater Manchester - one man remained in custody
in connection with the shooting) and another victim died in
Nottingham. The fatal shootings in Greater Manchester
and Nottingham were the first in those areas for 16 months and
nearly 3 years, respectively.
-
Police reported that a firearm
was involved in the death of a man in a car park in Horley
(Surrey) but that there were no suspicious circumstances.
-
Two people died after being shot
by police marksmen in incidents in Fernhurst (Sussex) and
Shildon (County Durham). In the Fernhurst incident the
man was a firearms certificate holder and member of a local
rifle club who apparently fired a gun four times at police
officers. In the Shildon incident a crossbow was
apparently fired. In a third incident police shot and injured a man
apparently seen in possession of a firearm at the railway
station in Carfin (North Lanarkshire).
-
There was a worrying increase
this month in the reported number of other people who sustained gunshot
injuries in incidents. These occurred in:
-
Bedfordshire (3) - following two
shootings in Luton last month there were three further
incidents in which men were shot and
injured in the town during May
-
Berkshire (1) - a man was in a
critical condition after a targeted attack in Slough
-
Cambridgeshire (1) - a man was
injured in the hand by a single shot outside a store in
Peterborough
-
County Durham (2) - two men were
seriously injured in shooting incidents in Stanley (two men
have been held on suspicion of attempted murder)
-
Greater Manchester (1) - a man
admitted himself to hospital with chest wounds after a
shooting in Haughton Green
-
London (4) - a man suffered
minor injuries in a street fight outside Manor House tube
station, another spent 11 days in hospital after being shot in
Leytonstone, a teenager was shot in the leg in a shooting in
Stonebridge and police found a man with a shotgun wound in
Hackney
-
Merseyside (5) - four men were
injured in three possibly related incidents at pubs in West
Derby (one man has been arrested), and a woman was shot in the
leg at a house in Greenbank
-
West Midlands (4) - a man was
shot outside a gym in Highgate (Birmingham), two others
were shot, one in the chest and one in the back, in an
incident in Handsworth (Birmingham) (two men have been
arrested), and another victim was shot with a shotgun fired from a
car in Stoke Aldermoor (Coventry)
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a man was
in a stable condition after he was shot in Moortown (Leeds)
-
A woman was accidentally shot by
her husband near Woodbridge (Suffolk) when the shotgun he was
carrying went off as he stumbled.
-
Non-gunshot injuries were
sustained by victims in other incidents involving men
apparently armed with guns in Guildford (Surrey, where two
victims were attacked with an iron bar and a gun) and in two
incidents in Warwickshire, the first in Rugby where a security guard was
injured during an attempted robbery at a garden centre and the
other in
Bulkington where a man suffered head injuries from a crowbar
during a car theft.
-
Other victims were injured as a
result of being shot with airguns and BB guns (see below).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - Security guards were threatened
with what appeared to be firearms during a robbery in
Cumbernauld.
-
A man is wanted in connection
with five robberies involving a handgun which happened on
buses in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield (West Midlands)
-
A taxi driver had a pistol
pressed to his head during an attempted robbery in Heywood
(Greater Manchester).
-
A woman was threatened with a
handgun by a mugger in Vange (Essex), but the man ran off
empty-handed. Two youths armed with an airgun robbed two
victims in Jericho (Oxford). A gang of girls armed with
a ball-bearing gun tried to rob a woman near Hyde Park in
London - a 16-year-old girl has been charged with robbery and
possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear
of violence.
-
Guns were involved in car thefts
in Bulkington (Warwickshire) (the victim was hit on the head
with a crowbar and the assailants threatened to shoot him) and
Winson Green (Birmingham) (a gang of youths armed with a
shotgun threatened motorists at temporary traffic lights and
stole a car).
-
There were other robberies and
attempted robberies which were alleged to have involved guns
at:
-
A Bank - in Gillingham (Kent) in
which the robber may have been armed with an imitation gun
-
Betting Shops - in Glasgow, Duddingston Park South (Edinburgh)
and North Ormesby (Middlesbrough)
-
A Garden Centre - near Rugby
(Warwickshire) (a security guard was hit during an attempted
robbery by five men armed with a crowbar and possibly two
handguns) (see above)
-
A Food Outlet - in Knaresborough
(North Yorkshire)
-
A Petrol station - in Aylesbury
(Buckinghamshire)
-
Shops - in Ayr (where an airgun
was used), South Shields
(Tyneside), Staverton (Wiltshire) (three men were arrested
after an attempted robbery involving an airgun), Flint Hill
(Country Durham) and Wednesfield (West Midlands) (two teenagers
have been arrested)
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired at houses in two
separate incidents in Merseyside (in Allerton and Huyton).
-
A man has claimed that two
gunmen on motorbikes aimed a gun at him as he was driving in
Southport (Merseyside).
-
A teenager who appeared to fire
a gun caused a cyclist to fall off his bicycle in Milton Keynes
- police have not established whether the weapon was real or
an imitation.
-
Police recovered a shotgun and
an air rifle from an address in Weymouth (Dorset) after a
woman fled a flat with her baby claiming her husband had made
threats to kill her - a man was arrested.
-
A 15-year-old was arrested after
he was found in possession of a sawn-off shotgun in South
Norwood (south London), and a 16-year-old was arrested in
Huyton (Merseyside) on suspicion of being in possession of a
fully loaded, pump-action shotgun. An 18-year-old was arrested on
suspicion of firearms offence after one of two men acting
suspiciously was seen to throw a handgun in Longsight
(Manchester).
-
Two men, one of whom holds a
current firearms certificate, were arrested after reports of a
man being threatened in an incident involving firearms in
Frampton (Dorset). A man was to be questioned about
suspected firearms offences after being arrested in Albrighton
(Shropshire).
-
A drunken man was arrested at
home after he had threatened to fetch a shotgun when he was
stopped from taking his shopping because he could not afford
to pay for it.
-
A man and a woman were arrested
in relation to firearms offences in Bedworth (Warwickshire).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - More victims were hit with
pellets fired from airguns and BB guns:
-
A cyclist was shot in the leg
with an airgun pellet as he cycled along a canal towpath in
Warwickshire
-
A woman filling her car with
petrol in Bulwell (Nottinghamshire) was shot with an air rifle
- her stomach was punctured
-
An 8-year-old girl was shot in
the eye with a BB gun whilst she played in a park in Worcester
-
A teenager suffered minor
injuries when he was shot with an airgun in Oxford
-
A man was shot in the face with
what has been described as a BB gun when he was walking near
Basingstoke (Hampshire)
-
A golfer was shot on the hip
with an air rifle while playing in Sinfin (Derby), and in
Sinfin Moor a 15-year-old boy was hit twice in the leg
-
A victim received minor injuries
after being shot with an air rifle in East Ham (east London)
-
A delivery van driver was shot
in the leg with an air rifle in Atherton (Lancashire) (three people were being
questioned by police)
-
A postman was shot with an
airgun in Barrhead (East Renfrewshire) which has lead to mail deliveries to the street where it happened
being halted.
-
A teenager was shot in the face
as he was examining an airgun at an address in Bulkington
(Warwickshire).
-
An airgun was fired towards a
man as he walked in Dufftown (Moray).
-
Airguns and imitation guns were
probably used in at least five of the robberies and attempted
robberies in May (see above):
-
A man threatened staff at a
store in Ayr with what appeared to be an airgun
-
An airgun was used in an
attempted robbery on a shop in Staverton (Wiltshire)
-
Two
youths armed with an airgun robbed two people in Jericho
(Oxford)
-
A gang of girls armed with a
ball-bearing gun attempted to rob a woman in London
-
It was reported that a man who
stole cash from a bank in Gillingham (Kent) may have been armed with
an imitation gun
-
Police had to deal with a
number of other incidents involving airguns and imitation guns:
-
A man was to be charged with
possessing an imitation firearm and criminal damage after an
incident at a pub in Flint
-
Armed police surrounded a group
of youths in Dogsthorpe (Peterborough) after a gun had been
spotted in a garden - the weapon turned out to be an air rifle
-
A man armed with a BB gun and
knife was arrested in Tenterden (Kent) on suspicion of
possessing an imitation firearm, possessing a bladed article
and assaulting police
-
A man was being questioned after
a man carrying a gun was challenged by a security guard in the
grounds of a hotel in Bishopton (Renfrewshire) - an air rifle
was discovered by police in a van
-
A woman was arrested on
suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after a couple
walking home in Henley-on-Thames (Oxfordshire) were confronted
with a woman with a gun, believed to be a BB gun
-
Firefighters were apparently
prevented from putting put out a fire at a house in Kettering
(Northamptonshire) by a man wielding an axe and what appeared
to be an air rifle - a man has been charged with a suspected
arson attack.
-
Workmen resurfacing a road at
Llanerfyl (Powys) have been threatened by a motorist who said he
would use an air rifle to shoot them.
-
A car door was damaged when an
airgun was fired at a passing car in Llanymynech (Powys).
A stretch limousine was shot at with an airgun in Hendon
(Sunderland), and an airgun pellet was fired at a bus in
Southwater (West Sussex).
-
Windows of shops on an estate in Ipswich
have been shattered, probably with a BB gun. An air rifle pellet was
fired through a kitchen window in Pinehurst (Swindon). Someone armed with an air rifle has been
smashing windows and deflating tyres in the village of Ashton
(Cornwall). Two men are on bail after they
allegedly used an air rifle to shatter
a window at a home in the centre of Barrow (Cumbria).
-
A speed camera was fired at with
an airgun at Leverton (Lincolnshire). In one of a number
of incidences of vehicle damage in Honicknowle (Plymouth)
dents were caused to a car by a ball-bearing gun.
-
A 14-year-old was charged after
an incident at a school in Aberdeen involving a replica
weapon.
-
Travellers camped in Sidmouth
(Devon) have been "frightening" local residents who have seen
them brandish an air rifle.
-
An air rifle was among weapons
seized by police in an operation in which nine people were
arrested at stations in Wimbledon and Morden (south London).
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - More guns were found during
police raids in which drugs were also recovered:
-
A man was arrested on suspicion
of supplying drugs and possessing a firearm in Keighley
(West Yorkshire)
-
A stun gun was among stolen
goods and other items, including drugs, recovered following a
series of raids in south-east London: a WPC was among seven
people arrested
-
A stun gun was found with heroin
during a raid in Hartlepool: three men and a woman were
arrested
-
A man was charged with
possession of firearms with intent to cause fear of violence
and another was being questioned after police recovered a
firearm, cash and a substance thought to be cocaine in Luton
(Bedfordshire)
-
Three handguns, cash and drugs
were seized by police following a series of raids in
Blackburn, Oswaldtwistle and Accrington (Lancashire) - a
teenager was among those arrested and has been charged with
drug and firearm offences
-
Two men were charged with a
string of drug and firearms offences after a discovery at a
home in Laindon (Essex)
-
A man and a woman in Whitely
(Berkshire) have been charged with cultivating cannabis at
their home and handling stolen goods including an air rifle
-
A man was arrested on suspicion
of conspiracy to commit arson and possession of a firearm
after a number of incidents in Sefton (Merseyside) - police
had recovered a handgun, silencer and three magazines.
-
A large haul of weapons,
possibly from a dumped collection, was recovered from a river
near St Cyrus (Aberdeenshire).
-
An air pistol and pellets were
stolen from an unlocked garage in Skegness (Lincolnshire).
Twenty paintball guns and explosives were stolen from a
company in Harewood Forest (Hampshire).
-
Incidents Involving Animals - More and more owners are
being left distraught after their pets have been shot and
injured, sometimes fatally, with airguns. There is no
indication whatsoever that this widespread problem is being
taken seriously enough. It is obvious that far too many
air weapons are in the hands of those who continue to misuse
them, and the problem will only be tackled by the introduction
of a registration system for airgun ownership.
-
This month cats were shot with
airguns in incidents reported in Clywd, Derby, Devon,
Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hampshire (two separate incidents),
Hull (two separate incidents), Lancashire (one of a number of
recent incidents in the area according to a local resident),
Moray, Nottinghamshire (two cats shot following four earlier
incidents), Rutland, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Sussex and
Worcestershire (two separate incidents).
-
A dog was shot with an airgun
after being let off its lead in Grimsby (Lincolnshire).
A man used his rifle to shoot dead a bull terrier which
attacked his own dog on a walk in Sutton-in-Ashfield - police
are investigating the use of the firearm and why the dead
animal was not under control.
-
Teenagers who have been drinking
are causing problems at fishing ponds in Wigan (Greater
Manchester) by firing on wildlife - one gander has been shot
with an air rifle.
-
One teenage boy received an
official caution and another a 24-hour community payback order
for being in possession of a loaded air weapon after residents
in Staincross (South Yorkshire) told the police that birds had
been shot in the woods.
-
Convictions - A man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter on
the grounds of diminished responsibility, admitted robbery and
various firearms offences has been detained under the Mental
Health Act - he had admitted shooting dead a shopkeeper in
Huyton (Merseyside).
-
A man who arranged to murder a
man at a pub in Salford, an attempt which resulted in the
victim and another man being seriously injured and the two
gunmen themselves being shot dead, has been jailed for life
after being convicted of conspiracy to murder.
-
A man who shot and injured a man
who came to the aid of a security guard at the station in
Rayleigh (Essex) during a robbery has been found guilty of a
number of offences - two other defendants face a retrial after
the jury failed to reach verdicts.
-
A teenager who fired a 12-bore
shotgun at a friend from his parents' home in Up Hatherley
(Gloucestershire) whilst he was drunk was given a suspended
nine months custodial sentence after admitting having a
firearm with intent to cause his friend to believe unlawful
violence would be used against him.
-
A man who was armed with a knife
and threatened to get a gun during a robbery at a shop in
Talwrn (Anglesey) has been jailed for three years and four
months. A man has admitted assault and robbery at a shop
in Dennistoun (Glasgow) when he brandished a handgun and
snatched £60 - sentencing was deferred.
-
A man caught with a
semi-automatic pistol and ammunition in his car in
Loughborough (Leicestershire), as well as a small knife and
cannabis, has been jailed for a total of eight years.
-
A man has admitted a breach of
the peace and a firearms offence after he had admitted sending
shotgun cartridges and threatening letters to politicians in
Scotland.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases) -
A 16-year-old boy has been given a 10 month custodial sentence
after pleading guilty to causing actual bodily harm and
possessing a firearm - he left a woman with horrible bruises
after shooting her in the face with an air rifle in Norwich.
-
A man has admitted behaving in a
culpable and reckless manner and endangering a teenager - he
fired an airgun at a 14-year-old girl in Aberdeen, hitting her
in the head and body.
-
A 17-year-old, who was one of a
group of youths being led by an older woman which threw eggs
at an Asian neighbour in Gravesend (Kent), fired an airgun
during the incident and has been given community service and
supervision.
-
A man who fired an airgun out of
his window in Broughton (Flintshire) admitted possessing a
firearm with intent to cause people to believe that unlawful
violence would be used against them and was given a suspended
40 week jail sentence.
-
A driver who threatened another
motorist with an air rifle and aimed it at his car in Draycott
(Derby) admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent
to cause fear of violence and has been jailed for two years and
five months. A man who forced his way into a neighbour's
house in Flint (Clwyd) and pointed an air rifle at her face
has admitted affray, assault, possessing a firearm and
breaching his Asbo.
-
There were a number of court
cases in which men admitted to charges of robbery involving airguns
or imitation weapons
-
Two men who burst into a shop in
Allenton (Derby) armed with an airgun have pleaded guilty to
attempted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm and
asked for a total of 23 other offences to be taken into
consideration - they were each jailed for seven years
-
A man who entered a shop in
Malvern (Worcestershire) armed with a replica Colt 45 pleaded
guilty to attempted robbery and also theft of a shotgun which
was found later by police - he was jailed for three-and-a-half
years
-
Two teenagers have been
sentenced to four years youth detention after admitting
robbery following an incident in which a taxi driver was
threatened with a gas powered air pistol in Mablethorpe
(Lincolnshire)
-
One man has admitted possessing
an imitation firearm, a blank-firing pistol, with intent to
commit robbery at a shop in Old Colwyn (Clwyd) - his brother
has admitted some other charges and a third man has denied all
charges in an ongoing court case
-
Two men who attempted to hijack
a car in Motherwell whilst armed with a carbon dioxide-powered
pistol have pleaded guilty to a charge of abduction and
robbery and one of them has admitted having a firearm with
intent to make two police constables believe it would be used
against and possessing the weapon after serving a long jail
sentence - sentencing was deferred.
-
A man who fired a pellet from an
air rifle in a car park in Halesworth (Suffolk) was fined £100
- magistrates ordered the gun, which he had just bought on an
internet auction site, to be destroyed. A teenager, who
had also just acquired an air rifle that he had swapped for a car
amplifier and who fired it at a van parked in Earls Colne (Essex)
has admitted he had behaved recklessly and been ordered to pay
compensation.
-
Another man who had been banned
from possessing firearms after a previous conviction has
pleaded guilty to possession of air rifles and a stun gun, as
well as other charges and has been jailed for 12 months - the
weapons were found during two raids on his former home in
Winsford (Cheshire).
-
A teenager who dressed up in
army kit and carried an imitation machine gun and handgun to
college in King's Lynn was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid
community service after admitting being in possession of
imitation firearms.
-
A man who showed off a BB gun in
a Sunderland pub has been sentenced to 51 weeks imprisonment,
suspended for two years with 12 months supervision after he
admitted possessing the gun and two knives in public.
JUNE 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
Two shooting deaths were reported in June. The only
apparent homicide occurred in Fulham (west London): the man's death may be linked to an earlier fatal shooting in London in
May 2009.
-
A man's body was found with gunshot wounds in
woodland in Winkfield (Berkshire), but there do not appear to
be any suspicious circumstances: the body was that of a man
who had earlier disappeared from home with two of his shotguns.
-
There were a number of other
shooting incidents in which victims sustained injuries, but
these were fewer than in May. The incidents
occurred in:
-
County Durham (1) - a man was shot
with a shotgun during one of two related incidents in South
Moor (two men face charges of possession of a firearm with
intent to endanger lives)
-
Edinburgh (1) - a man was shot
with a shotgun as he returned home from walking his dog
-
Greater Manchester (2) - a man was
shot in the stomach in Fallowfield and another victim was shot
in the leg with a shotgun in Gorton
-
London (2) - two people, one a
teenage boy, were injured when a gunman armed with pistols opened fire in a
restaurant in St John's Wood
-
Merseyside (1) - a man was shot
with a shotgun in a targeted attack in Croxteth (a 15-year-old
has been accused of attempted kidnapping)
-
West Midlands (2) - two people were
injured in an incident in Aston
-
West of Scotland (3) - a man was
shot twice at a bus shelter in Renfrew, and a young woman and
a teenage boy were both shot during an incident in the
Tollcross area of Glasgow.
-
A man was accidentally shot with
a shotgun while hunting rabbits in Lower Lyde (Herefordshire).
-
Another victim was hurt when he
was hit with a gun during a robbery at a shop in
Preston (Lancashire) (see below).
-
There were other victims who
were shot with pellets from airguns and BB guns (see below).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies which were alleged to have involved guns
at Bookmakers in Leeds and Kingsbury
(north west London) (shots were fired at police during a
subsequent chase and two men were arrested), a Fast Food
Outlet in Paisley (Renfrewshire), a Pub in Worcester and at Shops in
Tetbury (Gloucestershire) (where the alleged gunman was disturbed), Preston
(Lancashire) (two robberies, in one an assistant was hit with the butt of a gun
and in the other a shopkeeper was hurt grappling with a robber
armed with an air rifle), Leeds and Leicester.
-
Two security guards were robbed
of cash outside a bank in Airdrie (North Lanarkshire).
-
Two men armed with a black
handgun carried out two robberies in Chorlton (Greater
Manchester), one at a cashpoint when a gold necklace was
stolen and one on a car driver from whom they stole a mobile
phone. Two men armed with a sawn-off
shotgun stole a holdall of cash from another car driver in Dewsbury
(West Yorkshire).
-
A man took a police van at
gunpoint in Peterborough and later hijacked another car - a
man has been charged. Two men armed with a sawn-off
shotgun and a hammer threatened a woman in Hale (Cheshire) and
stole her car.
-
A man was hit
on the head after five men broke into his house in Hilton
(Shropshire) - the men left empty handed but a shot, probably from a
shotgun, was fired. A man was robbed of cash and a
mobile phone at his home in
Walthamstow (north east London) by
robbers armed with what was believed to be a handgun.
-
Three other incidents involving imitation guns are summarised below.
-
Other Incidents - A member of the public was shot at
during an apparent abduction of another man in High Blantyre
(Lanarkshire).
-
There were reports of shots
being fired in a street in Lozells (Birmingham). A shot
was fired at an empty wedding car in Skipton (North
Yorkshire). Four men and two women were arrested
following reports of a gunshot in Norwich.
-
A man threatened to shoot a
woman police officer in Werneth (Greater Manchester).
-
A man has been charged after
allegedly brandishing a shotgun at Great Witley
(Worcestershire).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - There were more victims of
shootings with airguns and BB guns:
-
Two teenagers were hit with
airgun pellets in separate incidents on the same street in
Derby.
-
A member of the public claimed
he had been hit by an airgun pellet whilst walking in woods in
Stroud (Gloucestershire).
-
An 11-year-old boy from Darwen
(Lancashire) was shot at point-blank range with a ball bearing
gun and may have suffered permanent eye damage - the weapon
had been
bought by another boy's father the day before the incident.
-
Two anglers were shot with
airguns, one in Fornham St Martin (Suffolk) and the other in
Bellshill (Lanarkshire).
-
A teenage woman was awaiting
surgery after being shot at a party in Doncaster (South
Yorkshire) - her injury may have been from an airgun pellet.
-
One man was shot in the face
with a BB gun in one of a spate of incidents in Leigh-on-Sea
and Southend (Essex) - five people were arrested
(see below).
-
A golfer was shot in the leg
with an air rifle on a course in Aberdeen.
-
There were further incidents in
which others were targeted but not hit by airgun and BB gun snipers:
-
A boy in his garden in Harnham
(Wiltshire) was shot at with a BB gun by an older boy.
-
Two members of a cricket team in
Hucknall (Nottinghamshire) were fired at with a BB gun.
-
Residents of Old Town (Swindon,
Wiltshire)
reported being shot at by two young men, probably armed with
an imitation firearm.
-
A firefighter had to duck out of
the way when a gang shot at him in Chadderton (Greater
Manchester).
-
A number of arrests were made
following other incidents involving air weapons and imitation
guns:
-
A man was arrested after reports
that shots had been fired from a window of a home in
Broomlands (Ayrshire) - an air rifle was allegedly recovered
from the scene.
-
A man was charged with
possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear
of violence, having an imitation firearm with intent to commit
an indictable offence and making threats to kill after a
police officer was threatened in Wisbech (Cambridgeshire).
-
A man was arrested following an
incident at a house in Riverside (Cardiff) when armed police
surrounded the house and an airgun was retrieved.
-
A man was charged with
possession of an air weapon with intent and various other
offences following an altercation in Rugby.
-
A teenager was arrested and
charged with possessing an imitation firearm and having a
loaded air weapon in a public place after armed police were
called to a street in Chippenham (Wiltshire).
-
After violence erupted at the
horse fair in Appleby (Cumbria) police seized 127 ball bearing
guns.
-
Imitation guns were known to
have been used in
three robberies and attempted robberies:
-
A man was arrested on suspicion
of robbery and possession of an imitation firearm, believed to
be a ball-bearing gun, after an incident in Whalley Range
(Greater Manchester)
-
A teenager appeared in court in
Fleetwood (Lancashire) accused to using an imitation firearm
to stage a robbery
-
In Leigh-on-Sea (Essex) a mobile
phone was stolen, in one of a spate of incidents in Leigh and
Southend in which members of the public were threatened with a
BB gun
-
An 11-year-old brought two
ball-bearing guns into a school in Mirfield (West Yorkshire). Another boy was reprimanded after
firing pellets from a BB gun in school toilets in Enfield
(north London).
-
A woman is living in fear after
a BB gun was fired at a window of her home in Consett (County
Durham). Damage was caused when an airgun pellet was
shot at one of the windows of the village hall in Paganhill
(Gloucestershire). A man shot out the windows of a
car with an air rifle in Southport (Merseyside). Three
windows were shot out at a primary school in Aberdeen, and a
window has been smashed with an airgun shot at a school in
Haverfordwest (Pembrokeshire).
-
Police in Rhoose (South
Glamorgan) have issued reminders of firearms laws after people
were seen to be carrying airguns in the area. Similar
warnings were given by police in Wiltshire after reports of
shots at Wellhead Drove and of air weapons being used in the
area.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - More guns were found during
police drugs raids in Healey (West Yorkshire) (a ball-bearing
gun was seized), Luton (Bedfordshire) (four people were
arrested after a handgun and ammunition were recovered),
Hartlepool (a man has been accused of possessing a stun gun), Middlesbrough (where a shotgun was found)
and Cambridgeshire (at Buckden, Eaton Socon and Histon).
-
A gun was recovered during raids
in Leeds and 35 people charged with various offences including
firearms offences. Five guns were found during a series
of raids in London as part of an operation targeted at
suspected youth gang members.
-
An AK-47 rifle and ammunition
were found by police at an empty property in Whalley Range
(Greater Manchester).
-
Guns were stolen from a car in
Dunton Bassett (Leicestershire) (an air rifle was taken) and a
property in Little Lever (Greater Manchester) (two rifles and
two shotguns were stolen).
-
Incidents Involving Animals - June was
a particularly bad month for gun attacks on cats: GCN is
aware of at least 25 incidents. There were airgun attacks on cats in Aberdeen, Berkshire,
Cornwall (three attacks), County Durham, Cumbria (two
cats shot in possibly linked incidents), Dorset, Edinburgh,
Hertfordshire (three separate attacks), Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire (two separate incidents), Northamptonshire,
Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Surrey and West Lothian.
There were also three incidents of shotgun attacks, in
Norfolk, Derby and Guisborough (Teesside).
-
Cats are not the only victims. A dog was shot twice with an air rifle in
Bradford. A fox had to be put down after being shot with
an airgun in Croydon and left to die
-
Birds were also targeted by
airgun snipers. There were reports of gulls being shot
in Inverness and Exmouth (Devon). A family of swans was
killed, probably as a result of an airgun attack in Gateshead.
Another swan was shot with an airgun in Sutton Stop
(Warwickshire) but survived. Seven pigeons and a number of ducks have
been shot in Stoke-on-Trent.
-
Convictions - Four men face life sentences for
murder after fatal shootings, two for an attack in Streatham
(south London), one for murdering a man in Wythenshawe
(Greater Manchester) and one after being found guilty of fatally shooting a man
in Limehouse (east London).
-
Four men were found guilty of
various offences in relation to an incident in South Kirkby
(West Yorkshire) in which a man was shot with a shotgun though
they were found not guilty of attempted murder.
-
A man who fired shot from a
revolver in a street in Normanton (Derby) has been jailed for
seven years.
-
An army colour sergeant who
threatened another soldier with a loaded AK-47 assault rifle
in barracks in Camberley (Surrey) has been jailed for six
years.
-
A man believed to be a collector
of antique firearms is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty
to nine counts of possessing firearms and ammunition without a
licence after he shot up his own house in Walsall (West
Midlands) whilst he was drunk.
-
Offenders have been found guilty
or admitted possession of firearms during robberies:
-
A man was sentenced to 10 years
after a robbery at a bookmakers in Bletchley
(Buckinghamshire).
-
A man admitted 15 charges
including robberies at a bookmakers in Hoole (Cheshire)
and an off licence in Ormskirk (Lancashire).
-
A teenager has admitted his
involvement, with others, in an armed robbery in Shawlands
(Glasgow).
-
A number of men from Greater
Manchester, Leeds, Huddersfield and London were given lengthy
sentences for possessing firearms and ammunition for their
roles in the attempted trade in illegal guns. A man who ran an illegal
ammunition factory in his house in Rochdale (Greater
Manchester) has been jailed for three years.
-
A man who had a sawn-off shotgun
and ammunition, as well as stolen goods, at his home in
Cambridge has been given a two year jail sentence. A man from Sandyhills (Glasgow)
who armed himself with a handgun and 28 rounds of ammunition
has been jailed for five years and three months. A man caught with a sawn-off
shotgun and cartridges at his workshop in Halifax (West
Yorkshire) has admitted possessing a firearm and been jailed
for five years.
-
There were convictions for a
number of men for possession of stun guns:
-
A drug dealer from Edgbaston who
had one at home was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
-
A shopkeeper from Willington
(County Durham) who kept one in his shop was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and a curfew
order.
-
A man from Norwich who bought
one on an online auction site admitted possessing the weapon
and other offences was given a suspended 80-day jail sentence.
-
A man from Duns (Berwickshire)
who ordered a stun gun and pepper spray from Germany admitted
contravening the firearms act.
-
Another man from Edinburgh who
ordered three stun guns from the US pleaded guilty to buying
prohibited weapons and was ordered to server 150 days of an
unexpired sentence and had another 32 months added.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases) -
A man whose 18-month-old son was fatally injured by a shot
from his airgun fired by another child in his garden in
Washwood Heath (Birmingham) has pleaded guilty to causing the
death of his son and been given a conditional discharge.
-
A teenager who shot and injured a boy on a moped in Colchester
(Essex) has admitted charges of actual bodily harm and possessing
a firearm with the threat to cause violence and criminal
damage has been sent to a young offenders' institution for
nine months.
-
A man from Sutton
(Nottinghamshire) has pleaded guilty to having an air rifle
with intent to cause another to believe violence would be used
against a third person at his workplace - sentencing was
deferred. Another man who threatened two teenagers with
a loaded air pistol in Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire) has
admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to
endanger and was given an Asbo and a suspended custodial sentence.
-
There was further evidence that
imitation guns are being used during robberies.
Convictions followed robberies and attempted robberies in:
-
Birmingham - a man, one of three
who robbed a jewellers, has been sentenced to six years for
robbery and nine years for possessing an imitation firearm.
-
Tyneside - a man who pointed a
ball-bearing gun at the head of a man during a raid on a
bookmakers in Wrekenton has been jailed for five years.
-
Oxfordshire - a man who carried
out raids on a home in Beckley, a petrol station in Marston
and a store in Wheatley and threatened his victims with an
imitation firearm has received a six-and-a-half year jail
sentence.
-
Wiltshire - a teenager who was
drunk (see below) when he tried to rob a store in Staverton
whilst armed with an air pistol has admitted possessing an imitation
firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
-
Cardiff - a man has been jailed
for five years for a robbery in which he said he had used a
replica weapon
-
A teenager from Earlswood
(Surrey) who fired an air rifle out of his window could face
custody - he was found guilty of breaching his ASBO.
-
An ex-prison officer from Ripley
Castle (North Yorkshire) carried out a number of offences
against a woman he met whilst she was a prisoner, including
holding an air rifle to her face and threatening to shoot her,
and has been given a suspended 16-month prison sentence.
-
A man caught with a ball-bearing
gun and a knife after he had been seen abusing a newsvendor in
Newcastle upon Tyne has been given a suspended 8-week prison
sentence and an electronic curfew.
-
A man who kept a banned firearm
(a converted air rifle) hidden in an outbuilding at his home
in Spalding (Lincolnshire) was given a suspended 51 week
prison sentence and given a community punishment.
-
The ease of availability of
airguns increases the likelihood of their misuse, especially
by those who have been drinking. A number of those convicted of
airgun offences in June were drunk at the time of the offence
and included:
-
a man caught wearing
camouflage clothing and aiming an unloaded air rifle at a pub
in Merry Hill (Wolverhampton) and has been given a six month
suspended jail sentence
-
a man from Sheffield who carried
out a racist attack at a friend's house and was jailed for
three years and eight months
-
a man who fired air rifle
pellets into the wall, floor and sofa of the home he shares
with his girlfriend and daughter in Darlington - he was given
a 9-month suspended sentence)
-
a man who pointed an air rifle
in a car park in Haverhill (Suffolk) - he has been warned he
could face a jail sentence
-
a teenager who pointed an air
rifle at a police officer in Caerphilly pleaded guilty to
possessing a firearm and was given an 18 months sentence in a
young offenders' institution
-
A man who waved a BB gun around
a filling station in Minster (Kent) accepted a caution for
possessing an imitation firearm in a public place following an
armed police hunt.
-
A man from Pinner (north west
London) accused of threatening an escort with a plastic
handgun was found not guilty of possession of a firearm with
intent to cause fear still faces a charge of affray.
JULY 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were eight shooting deaths reported in July, of
which six were homicides:
-
A man died in what was described
as a gang-related shooting in Broomhall (Sheffield) (three
other men were injured and four men
have been charged with conspiracy to murder).
-
There were two fatal shootings
in Greater Manchester - a shop worker was shot dead in Winton
(two men have been charged with murder) and another victim was
shot and killed in a car park in Chadderton.
-
There were also two fatal
shootings in south London - a football manager died when he
was shot several times at a playing field in West Wickham (one
man has been arrested) and
a man died in hospital after being found injured in a car in New Cross.
-
A pub landlord died when he was
shot after breaking up a row in Bilston (West Midlands) (seven
people have been charged with murdering the victim).
-
A man's body was found in
Potterhanworth (Lincolnshire) after his ex-partner's daughter
had been shot in the leg - the man died of gunshot wounds
and a shotgun was found close the body.
-
A post-mortem showed that an
elderly man
whose body was found in Allestree (Derby) had died as a result
of a single gunshot wound - police are not treating the death
as suspicious.
-
A number of other
victims sustained shooting injuries - in most cases the
victim's condition was not thought to be life-threatening. The incidents
occurred in:
-
Birmingham (4) - two men
suffered injuries when they were shot in the street in
Handsworth, a man was shot in the stomach at his house in
Edgbaston and another victim was shot in the leg in Willenhall
-
Bristol (1) - a man was injured
in the leg during a shooting outside a pub
-
Greater Manchester (2) - two men
were injured in shootings in Rochdale (one man has been
charged with attempted murder)
-
Lincolnshire (1) - a teenage
girl was shot in the leg in an incident linked to the
discovery of a man's body in Potterhanworth (see above)
-
North London (4) - two teenagers
were shot on an estate in St John's Wood (a third teenager was
pistol whipped), and two men were shot, one by armed police, in
Leyton (a man has been arrested and a loaded firearm
recovered)
-
Merseyside (4) - a man
was hit by one of four shots fired in Dovecot, another
victim was shot in the legs in Toxteth and two victims were
shot in Croxteth in separate incidents, one was hit in
the arm (a teenager has been arrested) and the other, a teenager,
was shot in the leg (four teenagers and a man have been
arrested and a firearm recovered)
-
Sheffield (3) - three men were
shot and injured, one seriously, in the incident in which a
fourth man died (see above)
-
South London (4) - one man was
shot at a kebab shop in Woodside Green and three men have been shot
in Clapham on two separate occasions
-
Sunderland (1) - a man was shot
in the back at his home
-
Sixteen other victims were shot with airguns and BB guns (see below).
-
Armed Robberies - There were robberies and attempted
robberies allegedly involving guns at Banks, Building
Societies and Post Offices in Bristol, Rowley Regis (West Midlands) (a
customer was injured in the leg), Hyde (Greater Manchester)
(a security guard foiled the raiders), Ewell (Surrey) and
Thorney Wood (Nottingham) (a shotgun was fired), Bookmakers in
Luton (Bedfordshire) and Cambridge (three premises were
targeted in four days), Shops in Southampton (two men
were arrested), Cowes (Isle of Wight) (two
men have been charged), Dukinfield (Greater Manchester) and
Nottingham, a
Bar in Withington (Manchester) and Social Clubs in
South Bank (Teesside) and Gipton (Leeds). Some of the
incidents are known to have involved imitation guns (see
below).
-
Two security guards were robbed
of cash at a petrol station in Newmains (North Lanarkshire),
armed robbers stole cash from two security workers in
Lenton (Nottingham), a cashbox was seized from a security guard in
Bournemouth (Dorset) and another guard was robbed of cash in
Maidstone (Kent).
-
There were armed robberies
involving guns at homes in Hackenthorpe (Sheffield) and Derby
and in a garden in Streatham (south London).
-
Two men armed with a gun stole a
car in Sutton Coldfield (West Midlands).
-
A taxi driver was robbed at
gunpoint in Hartlepool - a ball-bearing gun was found at the
scene and a teenager charged. A delivery driver was
robbed of cash in New Ash Green (Kent).
-
Other Incidents - A man was arrested on suspicion of
conspiracy to commit murder after a shot was fired outside a
pub in Beswick (Greater Manchester).
-
In Huyton (Merseyside) two men
were shot at from a passing car and in an incident later in
the month a
parked car was hit by a bullet when shots were fired.
-
Two men have been charged with possessing a
firearm with intent to endanger life after shots were fired
from a handgun by occupants of a car in Preston (Lancashire).
-
Two teenagers were
arrested after reports that someone had discharged weapons
from a vehicle in Ilketshall St Andrew (Suffolk) (the incident
may be linked the theft of shotguns from a house in Rumburgh
(see below)).
-
A group of Norwegian crop circle
enthusiasts were shot at near Devizes (Wiltshire) (a man was
arrested).
-
A firearm was
discharged during an altercation in Basingstoke (Hampshire).
-
In Lostwithiel (Cornwall) four
teenagers were arrested after three cars were damaged - a
shotgun was found in a hedge.
-
A man was arrested and charged after being
disabled by police with a Taser gun after being seen with a
handgun at Gatwick Airport.
-
Two men ditched a stolen car
containing a loaded gun in Nine Ashes (Essex).
-
A man was arrested in Worthing
(Sussex) after reports he had a gun in what was described as a
domestic incident.
-
There were other suspected
firearms incidents in Tonypandy (Mid Glamorgan) (three men
have been arrested) and Cropwell Bishop (Nottinghamshire (one
man was arrested).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - At least sixteen people were
injured by being shot with airguns and BB guns in July:
-
A man found with superficial
injuries in Norris Green (Liverpool) is believed to have been
shot with an airgun.
-
A man was shot in the head with
an airgun pellet in Sunderland - a pellet had to be removed
from his skull.
-
In London there were four
apparent airgun shootings - a victim was hit in the shoulder
in Norbury (south London), another suffered minor injuries
when he was shot in the head in Soho, a teenager received a
puncture wound to his chest in Bromley and a 12-year-old girl
was shot by two boys with an airgun or BB gun in Streatham.
-
A dog walker was shot with an
airgun pellet in Weymouth (Dorset).
-
In Scotland a teenager had to
undergo surgery after being shot in the chest with an airgun
in Dundee (a 16-year-old was arrested and charged), and a
woman was shot with an airgun pellet whilst she was walking in
Ardcroy (Inverness-shire).
-
A man was shot twice with a pellet
gun attack in York - the perpetrator may have been seen later
firing the gun at a hotel in the city.
-
A 12-year-old boy was shot in
the arm when another boy fired a BB gun at him in Beverley
(East Yorkshire).
-
A teenager suffered head and knee
injuries after being shot with a BB gun in Barnstaple (Devon)
(four men were arrested).
-
Two boys were shot with a BB
gun in a drive-by shooting in Kettering (Northamptonshire).
-
Two people were hit with BB gun pellets in Cirencester
(Gloucestershire) (two teenagers have been arrested).
-
Two other children sustained air
rifle injuries. A 5-year-old girl was shot in the neck
with an air rifle while playing at home in Muirhouse (North
Lanarkshire). A 15-year-old shot himself in
the hand with an air rifle on a farm in Melksham (Wiltshire).
-
A driver was forced to duck when
an airgun was fired from an oncoming vehicle in Hartford
(Cambridgeshire).
-
Following other incidents
involving air weapons and imitation guns:
-
a man has been charged with possession of
an air weapon and intent to cause fear
and violence after an incident in Hertford.
-
a 15-year-old was arrested in
Bletchley (Buckinghamshire) where a BB gun was recovered
-
a man from Burton
(Staffordshire) is to appear in court charged with possession
of an imitation gun and a rice flail
-
a man was arrested and received
a caution after a BB gun was fired through a window in
Yarmouth (Norfolk)
-
a man appeared in court after
reports that a man was threatening and harassing another man
with an airgun in Ealing (west London)
-
armed police subdued a naked man
with a Taser after he was reported to be running around with a
fake gun in Stanmore (north west London)
-
a man sparked an armed police
alert in Hillsborough (Sheffield) and was charged with
possessing an imitation gun with intent to cause fear of violence
-
a man who was abusive to staff
at a store in Andover (Hampshire) whilst brandishing a BB gun
was arrested on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm
-
a man was arrested after a
replica gun was fired in front of two police community support
officers in Allenton (Derby)
-
a man with a BB gun sparked an
armed police raid in Romford (Essex) - he was arrested but
released without charge
-
Police in Darlington have condemned the "indiscriminate" use of
air weapons after being called out to more than 90 incidents
since January.
-
Among the Armed Robberies listed above
imitation guns were used at a shop
in Southampton, a jewellers in
Cowes (Isle of Wight) and an attack on a taxi driver in
Hartlepool.
-
Damage has been caused by air
weapons to property in Edenbridge (Kent), where shop signs have
been shot, Caister (Norfolk) where windows of a housing
estate have been targeted, Kelbrook (Lancashire) where a window
was shattered (in this case it is suspected that it may have
been accidental) and Doncaster where a 90-year-old's house
has been targeted. An airgun may also have been used when a
pellet was fired through a window in Largs (Ayrshire).
-
Police recovered two air rifles
after a gun was seen lying in the back seat of a car by a
shopper in Diss (Norfolk).
-
A stall holder at a marker in
Cardiff was told to remove two deactivated guns from open
sale.
-
A lead pellet has been found in
the skull of a man shot with a BB gun in Lancaster in 2008 and
he says he will sue the local NHS trust - the perpetrator had
previously been given a 12 month custodial sentence.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - More guns were found during
police drugs raids in Derby (a loaded handgun was discovered, four people were arrested
and a teenager has been charged),
Highbridge (Somerset) (a man was arrested and charged with a
firearm offence after a high-powered air rifle was recovered),
Anchorsholme (Lancashire) (four people have been arrested
after two stun guns were found), Sittingbourne (Kent) (two
people were arrested after a stun gun was seized) and
Hartlepool (an air rifle and air pistol were among a haul of
weapons found - three people were arrested). A man
was arrested and drugs and a weapon were found after someone
was seen in a street in Skegness (Lincolnshire) with a
handgun.
-
A man from Nelson (Lancashire)
has been charged with a number of offences including
possessing a prohibited firearm after the weapon was found at
his home. A man from Mawsley (Northamptonshire) has been
charged with firearms offences after a pistol, silencer and
ammunition were found in a car earlier in the year.
-
A 13-year-old girl was questioned
after a machine gun, later shown to be a replica, was found in
her bedroom in Croydon (south London) - two teenagers have
been arrested
-
There were thefts of shotguns
from houses in Didsbury (Greater Manchester),
Stocksfield (Northumberland) (two rifles were also stolen),
Fishtoft (Lincolnshire) and Rumburgh (Suffolk) (the theft may
be linked to an incident in which two teenagers were arrested
in Ilketshall St Andrew - see above). Air weapons were stolen from a caravan
in East Calder (West Lothian) and a home in Stowlangtoft
(Suffolk). Thieves took paintball
guns from a centre in Farr (Highlands).
-
Incidents Involving Animals
- Many newspapers publicised the warning from the RSPCA about
the likelihood of airgun attacks on animals during the summer
and included accounts of recent incidents. However,
warnings alone will not enough. These continue to go
unheeded and more action is essential to prevent those
responsible for targeting animals from getting hold of their
guns. There was further evidence of the scale of the
problem with the incidents reported in July.
-
Airgun attacks on cats, some of
which did not survive, were reported from Bradford,
Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Oxfordshire (two
incidents), Lancashire, Leicestershire, London, Midlothian,
South Wales, West Midlands (two incidents) and West Sussex.
Following a similar incident in the county last month there was another
shotgun attack on a cat in Norfolk.
-
A dog died after being shot with
an air rifle in Berkshire, and a second dog was targeted with
an air weapon in Pembrokeshire.
-
There were also attacks on
birds. Two swans were shot dead in Cheshire and another
was attacked in the West Midlands. Three pigeons were
shot dead in Melton Mowbray (Leicestershire), probably with an airgun.
-
Convictions - Murder trials in which the victim was shot were concluded:
-
Two men were convicted of the
murder of a man in Netherley, Merseyside, and
given 36 year and 28 year sentences - one of the men was also
convicted of the attempted murder of a man who was shot in
Coventry.
-
Two men were convicted of the
murder of a man in Harlesden (north west London) and
both have been given minimum sentences of 20 years.
-
A man who shot and killed his
ex-girlfriend's father and injured her mother at their home in
Porth Kea (Cornwall) has pleaded guilty to murder and will
serve at least 25 years.
-
A man who killed a teenager in
Paisley in a drive-by shooting was found guilty of murder and
also of attempting to murder a second man who was the intended
victim of the attack.
-
A man who fired five shots at
and injured a
love rival in Norwood (south London) must serve at least 15
years in jail.
-
A man who supplied a gun to his
father who then shot himself dead in a Northampton hospital
has admitted six firearms offences.
-
A number of men were sentenced
for possession of firearms or ammunition:
-
A man from Dukinfield (Greater
Manchester) who had a loaded key ring gun which fires .22
bullets has pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm, a CS spray
and drugs.
-
A man has been sent to a Young
Offenders Institution after police found a shotgun, pistol and
ammunition at his home in Leeds.
-
A man from Neath who sold a
shotgun, which he held without a certificate, to his son's
friend has been jailed for two months. The purchaser,
who claimed he thought he was buying an air rifle, was given a
12-month community order and ordered to complete 200 hours of
unpaid work.
-
A man who claimed to have a
machine gun and a pistol at his home in Coton (Cambridgeshire)
for work he undertook for the Ministry of Defence was given a
16-month prison sentence, half of which will be served under
licence.
-
A man was sentenced to 11 years
after an assault and firearms offences - police found a pistol
in a car which they had followed through Leicester.
-
A man is awaiting sentence after
police found a shotgun during searches on houses in Dalton and Crosland (West
Yorkshire).
-
A gang of five men was jailed for
between five years and seven years for having a firearm in a
street in Pimlico (central London).
-
A man was fined £2000 for
possessing ammunition at his home in Duston (Northampton).
-
A man who carried out an attack
with a stun gun, claimed to have been an electric cattle prod,
in Dilton Marsh (Wiltshire) has been jailed for 21 months.
-
Other men were sentenced for possession of stun guns:
-
A man caught with a stun gun and
a CS gas canister at his home in Marston Green (West Midlands)
was jailed for 15 months after pleading guilty - he also
admitted drug charges.
-
A man found with a stun gun at
his flat in Devonport (Plymouth) has been given 200 hours of
unpaid community work - he too admitted drug offences.
-
A six month suspended sentence
was given to a man from Middlesbrough after a stun gun and
drugs were found at his previous address.
-
Two men have been told to
prepare for possible prison sentences after they took a stun
gun to a nightclub in Northampton.
-
A man was given a 12 month jail
sentence after a stun gun he bought over the internet was
found at his home in Port Glasgow (Renfrewshire).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns
(Court Cases)
- There were convictions of a number of people who injured others
with airguns and imitation guns:
-
Two 18-year-olds were jailed
(for four and a half years and for nine months) for an attack
on another man in Barton (Oxford) which resulted in life
changing injuries.
-
A man from Stanley (Perthshire)
who shot a boy with an air weapon was jailed for nine months.
-
A man who fired an airgun
recklessly and shot a young woman as she left a party in
Stockton (Teesside) received a 16 month prison sentence.
-
A man who left his teenage
victim with a ball-bearing gun pellet in his neck after a
shooting at a bus stop in Baildon (West Yorkshire) has been
jailed for three years.
-
A man who shot a 14-year-old,
one of a group of youths playing in the street in Glascote
(Staffordshire), with his airgun has been jailed for 30
months.
-
A man was given a five year jail
sentence for shooting a teenager with an air pistol in Leyland
(Lancashire) - the victim lost an eye.
-
A woman who ruined a model's
career when she shot him with an airgun in Dagenham (east
London) has been given a nine month suspended sentence and
ordered to pay compensation - her husband was also given a
suspended jail sentence and a two year supervision order.
-
There was plenty of evidence
from court cases of the further use of
imitation guns during robberies:
-
Following two separate incidents in Norfolk
one man has been jailed for
five and a half years after threatening a shop assistant in
New Buckenham with an airgun during a robbery, and another admitted possession of an imitation firearm with intent to
commit a robbery after he attempted to rob a store in Norwich
whilst armed with a BB gun.
-
A 15-year-old was armed with an
air rifle when he stole chips from another youth in
Chester-le-Street (County Durham) - he has been ordered to
wear an electronic tag for the next three months.
-
A man who stole a car at
gunpoint, he had a BB gun, in Little Hadham (Hertfordshire)
was jailed for three years.
-
A man has admitted aggravated
burglary, possessing a bladed article and carrying an
imitation firearm in Barnsley (South Yorkshire) and been
jailed for six years and ten months.
-
Two men who robbed a building
society branch and a store in Harrogate (North Yorkshire)
using an imitation firearm were each sentenced to six years
imprisonment.
-
A man who attempted to rob a
cinema in Huntingdon whilst armed with an imitation gun has
been given four years in prison with two years extended
licence.
-
Two men who robbed a store in
Waterloo (Merseyside) have pleaded guilty to robbery and
possession of an imitation firearm (a ball bearing gun) - one
of the men received a two year sentence, the other who
admitted a total of 13 robberies with an imitation gun was
sentenced to four years imprisonment.
-
One of three men who robbed a
jewellers in Reading and had pleaded guilty to robbery and
possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an
indictable offence has lost his appeal against the length of
the sentence he was given (six years imprisonment).
-
Others faced charges of using
airguns and imitations guns to threaten:
-
A man who terrified a friend by
holding an imitation pistol to his head at a bedsit in
Worcester has been jailed for 18 months.
-
A man who
threatened his teenage sister with an air pistol in Irvine
(Ayrshire) when she refused to give him money is awaiting
jail.
-
A man from Seaham (County
Durham) who threatened another man with a metal bar and an air
weapon has been jailed for 10 months.
-
One of three men involved in an
incident in Warwick, who pointed an air rifle out of his flat
window at the other two, has been given a
six-month suspended sentence and 180 hours of unpaid work.
-
Two men who fired BB gun pellets
at pedestrians from a car in Norwich have been warned they
could be jailed after pleading guilty to having an imitation
firearm in a public place.
-
A teenager and another man have
been warned they face jail after a man and a woman were
threatened with an imitation gun in Penhill (Wiltshire).
-
A man has admitted brandishing a
fake handgun to resist arrest in Shoebury (Essex).
-
A man who had an
imitation revolver on a cycle track in Lancashire was given a
12-month community order and 100 hours unpaid work.
-
A man was jailed for three years
for blackmailing three brothers and threatening them with an
imitation firearm in Middleton (Greater Manchester).
-
A former soldier admitted firing
an air rifle into a car in Borough Green (Kent) in which his
ex-girlfriend was sitting and has been given a two-and-a-half
year sentence - his current girlfriend was convicted of the
same charges, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear
of violence and damaging property, and awaits sentence.
-
A man admitted possessing an
imitation firearm (a plastic toy gun) in a public place
following an incident involving armed police in Shirley (Southampton). Another man has admitted a breach of the
peace and placing people in a state of fear and alarm after
brandishing a toy gun outside a bookmakers in Hamilton
(Lanarkshire).
-
There were two more cases in which men had been drinking at
the time they committed an offence with an air weapon - a man
has been jailed for three years after he shocked bystanders by
walking down a street in Loughborough (Leicestershire)
pointing his air rifle, and a second man was jailed for two
years for firing an airgun at a car in Billingham (Teesside).
-
A former firearms officer who has pleaded guilty to blackmail
used a replica handgun during the attempt.
-
A Banbury (Oxfordshire) man was
jailed for 10 weeks after admitting possession of an air
weapon and ammunition when prohibited. A man from Tideswell
(Derbyshire) who admitted two offences of possessing an air
rifle without a firearms certificate and other offences was
given a two-year conditional discharge for the gun offences.
A man from East Bowling (Bradford) who was jailed for stealing
received an additional six months imprisonment for illegally
possessing an air rifle at his home.
-
A man who was involved in the
theft of four air rifles and other items from a home in
Bridlington (East Yorkshire) has been given a 12-month
community order and 200-hours unpaid work - another man who
pleaded guilty has
failed to appear in court for sentencing. A shoplifter who stole a BB gun
in Sidmouth (Devon) was fine £80 by the police.
-
Charges of possession of an
imitation firearm do not always relate to actual guns. This
month two men admitted charges for having:
AUGUST 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
The death of 5-year-old Jonathan
Cooke, shot in what has been described as a tragic accident at the home
of family friends, has once again drawn attention to the lethality of airguns. The
shooting of Jonathan was not an intentional act, but during August, as in
every other month, a number of other victims, many of them also young,
appear to have
been deliberately targeted with air weapons. Some were lucky to have
escaped with only minor injuries.
Gun Control Network continues to question
why air weapons are being treated as if they are distinct from other guns. Their
different mechanism of firing should not determine how their ownership and use
are controlled. As lethal weapons, which it is clear many airguns are, they should be
subject to the same legislation that controls the use of other guns, in
other words there should be a registration system so that ownership is
restricted to those with a legitimate reason to use them.
Sadly more and more
people, and animals, are paying for the consequences of allowing too many of these
weapons to get into the wrong hands.
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
GCN is aware of four fatal shooting incidents during August:
-
There were two homicides.
One occurred in south London in Rotherhithe
(the victim died in hospital - three men have been arrested) and
the other in Sheffield where the victim was found
shot dead at the wheel of his crashed car in Parson Cross (three men have been arrested)
-
A 5-year-old boy died after
being shot with an air rifle in the grounds of the house where
he was staying in Fovant (Wiltshire)
-
A farmer died in Southwick
(Wiltshire), apparently from a
self-inflicted gunshot wound
-
A number of victims were injured in shooting attacks - in most cases the
victim's condition was not thought to be life-threatening. The incidents
occurred in:
-
Greater Manchester (1) - a woman was
shot in the shoulder in Barton (a man has been charged with
attempted murder)
-
Merseyside (3) - a man was shot
in his home in Huyton, a teenager abducted in Huyton was found
with gunshot wound to his leg in Stockbridge Village and a
third male victim was shot in the leg, probably in Bootle
-
North London (5) - a man was
shot in the head during a street robbery in Finsbury Park,
another victim was shot in Tottenham, and three people, including one
woman, received gunshot wounds during a shooting at a
nightclub in Muswell Hill
-
Northumberland (1) - two men
entered a house and shot a man in Darras Hall (one man has
been arrested)
-
Sheffield (1) - a man was shot
in the right arm
-
South London (2) - a man was
injured in Lewisham and another was shot outside a nightclub
in Southwark after a man was fatally injured by a car
-
West Midlands (4) - two men were
injured in a shooting incident in Coventry (a teenager was
arrested) and another two victims sustained gunshot wounds in
Erdington
-
West Yorkshire (1) - a man was
shot in the leg in Chapeltown (Leeds)
-
Two police officers were injured
in a shooting incident near Waterloo station (central London)
(a man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder
and possession of a loaded firearm).
-
A man from Dearham (Cumbria) was
in a serious condition after a shooting, though police are not
looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
-
A bus driver was shot with a bolt gun in Henbury (Bristol).
-
At least eleven people,
including another five-year old child and three teenagers,
were injured when they were shot at with airguns and BB
guns:
-
A teenager was shot in the head
with an air rifle as she walked in a park in Darlington - the
pellet narrowly missed her eye socket.
-
Police are trying to trace a
woman who reported that she had been shot with an air rifle
while walking through a park in Tamworth (Staffordshire).
-
A young woman was shot with an
air rifle as she waited near a taxi rank in Mansfield
(Nottinghamshire). In a second incident in the area a
teenager was shot, probably with an air rifle, in Mansfield
Woodhouse and had a pellet lodged close to his kidney.
-
A teenager who was shot in the
leg with an airgun whilst walking on a trail in Weymouth
(Dorset) needed hospital treatment.
-
A man was shot in the leg with
an air rifle and then beaten unconscious as he walked home
with his wife at Liversedge (West Yorkshire).
-
A cyclist was shot with an air
rifle whilst riding in Titsey (Surrey).
-
A five-year-old girl was shot in
the head with an air rifle in Workington (Cumbria).
-
A man was shot in the face with
an airgun as he was boarding up a window in Burnley
(Lancashire).
-
A young woman was shot in the
neck by an airgun sniper in Woburn Sands (Bedfordshire).
-
A roofer was struck in the head
by a pellet, believed to have been fired from a BB gun, as he
worked in Cambridge.
-
Armed Robberies
- There were robberies and attempted
robberies allegedly involving guns at Banks, a Bureau de
Change and Post Offices in Bilton (Warwickshire) (a man
was charged with robbery and possession of an imitation
firearm after this and another robbery at a shop - see below),
Brighton (Sussex), Coventry, Salfords (Surrey) and Woodford
Green (Essex), Jewellers in
Banbury (Oxfordshire), Colchester (Essex), Harrogate (North
Yorkshire) (two people including a 14-year-old boy have been
arrested), Lutterworth (Leicestershire) and Mayfair (central London) (shots
were fired after the robbery - two men have been charged),
Other Shops in Bilton (Warwickshire) (see above),
Chellaston (Derby), Haywards Heath (West Sussex), Kings Sutton (Northamptonshire),
Kingswood (Bristol), Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), Portswood
(Hampshire) (a teenager has appeared in court), Thornhill
(Southampton) (a teenage woman has been charged), Tonbridge
(Kent) and
Wickford (Essex), a Tanning Saloon in Morden (south London), a Petrol Station
in Felbridge (Surrey), Pubs in Alvaston (Derby) (a man
was later arrested) and Withington (Greater Manchester) (a gang held
a gun to a boy's head) and a Restaurant in Bracklesham
(West Sussex). One man was detained for misuse of
drugs and a firearms offence and another for an alleged
robbery after a robbery at a pharmacy in Hamilton (South
Lanarkshire).
-
Security guards stopped a
robbery by two armed men in Dargate (Kent) by locking
themselves into a room. Other security men were attacked
during a robbery at a bank in Flint (North Wales).
-
There were armed robberies
involving guns at Homes in Beccles (Suffolk) (two men
were armed with handguns and a stun-type device), Kempston (Bedfordshire) (the owners
were subjected to two robberies, one involving a gun, during the
same night) and Witney (Oxfordshire) (the theft was from
living quarters above a fast food shop).
-
A Car was stolen from a couple
in Denton (Greater Manchester) after an attacker fired a stun gun
at the owner.
Two men believed to be armed with a gun stole items from
people sitting in a
car in Gloucester.
-
A man was shot and injured during a Street Robbery in Finsbury Park
(north London) in which his mobile phones and car keys were
stolen. A woman was robbed and hit with a gun outside
her flat in Dalston (east London).
-
A man has been charged with two
counts of robbery after a raid at a bar in Didsbury (Greater
Manchester) last month.
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired:
-
at a car in Moss Side (Greater Manchester)
(an 18-year-old was charged with two counts of attempted
murder)
-
in two incidents in Merseyside, in Knowsley and in
Old Swan, where a garage was damaged
-
at properties in Milnrow and
in Broughton (Lancashire)
-
during a fight in Winsford (Cheshire)
(seven men were arrested)
-
by a moped rider at a man in Luton (Bedfordshire).
-
during an incident in Stanley
(County Durham) (a man is being questioned on suspicion of
attempted murder and a shotgun was recovered)
-
Three men were arrested after
men in a car were reportedly threatening people with a gun in
Oldham (Greater Manchester).
-
Three men brandishing a gun and
a baseball bat threatened a woman in a flat in Westcliff
(Essex).
-
A man was arrested on suspicion
of firearm offences after properties were searched in Preston
(Lancashire).
-
A man has been charged with
possessing a loaded revolver in a pub in Whitby (North
Yorkshire).
-
A gun was allegedly pulled during a street
disturbance in Halifax (West Yorkshire).
-
A gun was discovered in a garden
in Hillsborough (Sheffield) by police chasing a possible
burglary suspect.
-
Dog walkers in Ifield (Sussex)
have been disturbed by gunfire and men wielding rifles.
-
A teenager from Aberdeen has
been accused of attacking three men with a taser gun.
-
Six men arrested on suspicion of
carrying a gun in Southend (Essex) were released without
charge.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - Besides the fatal shooting
and those in which eleven other victims were injured (see
above) there were many more incidents involving airguns and
imitation guns.
-
A teenager was hit with the butt of an air rifle during an attack by a teenage
gang outside Halifax (West Yorkshire).
-
An airgun pellet fired at a
pensioner in Derby narrowly missed his head. Staff at a
supermarket in Workington (Cumbria) were targeted with pellets
from an air rifle. An air rifle was fired in a petrol
station store in Chingford (north east London) - the gunman
fled the scene.
-
A 13-year-old had a BB gun fired
at him in a Lincolnshire village (one pellet hit the tyre of
his bike). Two teenagers were arrested in Calne
(Wiltshire) on suspicion of firing a BB gun at two men.
-
A man was charged with having a
loaded firearm (a gas-operated handgun) and with damaging a
window at his ex-partner's home in Haddenham (Cambridgeshire).
-
A pizza delivery driver was
threatened with a replica handgun in Mickleover (Derby).
Children playing in Houghton (Cumbria) have been threatened by
youths with air rifles.
-
Following other incidents
involving air weapons and imitation guns:
-
a 14-year-old and a man have
been charged with trespassing on land with a firearm and
firing an air weapon on farmland in Aspatria (Cumbria)
-
two men had their weapon seized
after they fired an air rifle in a park in South Woodford
(north east London)
-
one of four people detained
after a fracas in Barrow (Cumbria) was arrested for possession
of an air rifle
-
a man was given a police caution
after being seen with an air rifle in Whitburn (Sunderland),
and a second man was later arrested
-
a man from Witney (Oxfordshire)
was arrested and charged with a number of offences including
possession of an imitation firearm in a public place
-
teenagers in Huntingdonshire who
were playing in a public space with two airsoft guns,
described by a police spokesman as "two of the most realistic
imitation I have seen", had the weapons seized
-
three teenagers with a toy gun
apologised after sparking a police search when they were
spotted wielding a gun in a car in Minster (Kent)
-
two youths with BB guns sticking
out of their pockets sparked an armed response in Benwick
(Cambridgeshire)
-
Among the Armed Robberies
listed above an airgun and an imitation gun are known to have
been used at a shop in Tonbridge (Kent) and at a bank
and a shop in Bilton (Warwickshire). The large
number of convictions for use of an imitation firearm in a
robbery (see below) suggests that these will not have been the
only armed robberies committed with imitation weapons during
August. A man has been charged with a number of thefts,
in two of which (in Hackney and Barnet, London) he is reported
to have used a replica firearm.
-
During a roadshow highlighting
the dangers posed by trespassing and vandalism on the railway
Network Rail revealed that the window of a train driven by a
Leicestershire driver was shattered by an air rifle pellet.
-
Windows of homes
were damaged with an airgun in Huddersfield (West Yorkshire)
and with a BB gun in Haverhill (Suffolk).
-
An air pistol was recovered by
police in Sunderland after a pursuit following an alleged break-in.
-
A group of men hunting with an
air rifle near Warton (Lancashire) caused a major police
operation.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Two men, one of them a
serving soldier, were arrested over the theft of handguns from
Ministry of Defence property in Wiltshire - eleven guns were
recovered in High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire).
-
A number of arrests were made after police
recovered firearms and ammunition:
-
A man was charged after a loaded
firearm with the appearance of a pen was recovered in Rusholme
(Greater Manchester).
-
A teenager was arrested after a
firearm and ammunition were found in a garden in Old Swan
(Liverpool).
-
Two men were arrested and one of
them was charged after a firearm and ammunition were found in
Loughborough (Leicestershire).
-
A handgun was recovered
and eight men arrested on suspicion of firearms offences when
police stopped two cars in Aylesbury (Buckinghamshire).
-
A sub-machine gun and a sawn-off
shotgun were found under a bed in a flat in Burmantofts
(Leeds) - a man has been arrested.
-
Ammunition was found during a police drugs raid in Reading (Berkshire) (one of two
men arrested has been held for a firearms offence).
-
Two firearms, a pistol and a key
fob-style gun were found in a bag discovered on grassland in
Preston (Lancashire).
-
Four BB guns, apparently in a
window display, were taken from a shop in Saundersfoot
(Pembrokeshire).
-
In the second such incident in
Scotland in two months paintball guns were taken during a
break-in at an adventure centre in Kirkintilloch (East
Dunbartonshire).
-
Incidents Involving Animals
- Shooting attacks on cats continued apparently unabated
during August, and there were reports from Anglesey, Angus,
Berwickshire, Bolton, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire,
Clackmannanshire, Cumbria, Essex, Lancashire, Leicestershire,
Lincolnshire (two incidents), South London and Sussex.
Most of these attacks involved airguns. Four youths were
arrested after a number of cat shootings with air rifles in
Milford Haven (Pembrokeshire).
-
A dog had to be put down after
being shot with an air rifle in Bramley (West Yorkshire).
-
A man from Moffat
(Dumfriesshire) who trapped and shot four badgers illegally
received a record fine.
-
Convictions - Four gang members have been jailed for life
(minimum sentences of 20 to 30 years) for the murder of a
teenager who was shot in Burngreave (Sheffield).
-
A man was jailed for life after
being found guilty of attempted murder - he shot at four men
in Brixton (south London).
-
A man who shot at police in
Ladbroke Grove (west London) has admitted
two robberies and using a firearm to resist arrest.
Another man who hit a police patrol car with shotgun pellets
in Highgate (north London) has been given an minimum term of 5 years imprisonment after admitting a number of offences.
-
A drunk teenager who fired a
sawn-off shotgun at a moving car in Woking (Surrey) was given
a 5 year custodial sentence.
-
A man admitted three charges
including carrying a firearm with intent to commit an
offence of robbery after robberies at premises in Brighouse
(West Yorkshire). An ex-police officer was jailed for 42
months after a robbery at a betting shop in Ilford (east
London).
-
A man who held an empty gun to a
taxi driver's head during a robbery in Leyland (Lancashire)
also pleaded guilty to rape and has been given an indefinite
jail sentence.
-
A man who held a stun gun to a
baby's back during a burglary in Efford (Plymouth) has been
sentenced to a total of 7½ years.
-
A number of men were convicted
for possession of firearms or ammunition:
-
One who had a modified
blank-firing revolver stashed in his bedroom in Fulwood
(Preston) admitted possession of a prohibited weapon.
-
An offender from Norwood (south
London) admitted money-laundering, drug offences, possessing a
shotgun without a licence and shortening a shotgun and has
been jailed for 16 years.
-
A man has been jailed for
3½ years after admitting possessing a sawn-off
shotgun without a certificate - the gun was found hidden in a
shed in Northampton.
-
A man has been jailed for 12
years after a revolver containing four bullets was found under
a car in Erith (Kent).
-
A teenager who kept a pistol in
a safe at his home in Wolverhampton has been given a
5½ year custodial sentence.
-
An ex-soldier from Jarrow
(Tyneside) who tried to buy a .50 calibre rifle from the USA
over the internet was given a suspended 36-week jail sentence
after the weapon was intercepted by British Customs.
-
A man from Aberdeen who bought a
stun gun over the internet has been warned he could face a
jail sentence.
-
A gun owner from Stranraer
(Wigtownshire) admitted three breaches of the Firearm Act and
one of the Explosives Act after leaving a gun, a gun part,
ammunition and gunpowder lying about his flat and has been
fined £7500.
-
A man from Blairgowrie
(Perthshire) who removed a shotgun from his father's house
without informing the police was fined £400 for breaching
firearms regulations.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns
(Court Cases)
- Four men were jailed for their roles in the torture,
abduction and murder of a man in Bradford - they were armed
with an imitation gun when they broken into the victim's
house.
-
There were convictions for three
men who injured others
with airguns and imitation guns:
-
A man whose wife encouraged him
to take potshots with an airgun at children in Tipton (West
Midlands) has been jailed for 3½ years and his wife for 2 years.
-
An 18-year-old pleaded guilty to
assault causing actual bodily harm and admitted having a
loaded firearm in a public place without lawful reason after a
man was shot in the knee with an airgun in Whitehaven
(Cumbria).
-
A man who fired a BB gun at
another man's eye in Basildon (Essex) was convicted of assault
and possessing an imitation gun in a public place and jailed
for 2½ years.
-
The following list highlights the frequent use of
imitation guns in robberies:
-
A man was sentenced to 10 years
imprisonment after admitting a number of robberies and
attempted robberies and three counts of possessing an
imitation firearm - in one raid in Brighton he was cuffed with
his own imitation weapon.
-
A man who was drunk attempted to
rob a shopkeeper in Burslem (Staffordshire) after he picked up
a toy gun - he was given a 2½ year sentence.
-
A man has pleaded guilty to two
robberies in Watford (Hertfordshire) and Stanmore (north west
London) during which he was armed with an imitation firearm -
he faces a substantial jail sentence.
-
A man from Melksham (Wiltshire)
has admitted actual bodily harm and a firearm offence after he
attempted to commit a robbery with an imitation firearm and
knife.
-
Two men who terrorised staff at
a jewellers in Newcastle with an imitation firearm and then
attempted a similar raid in Windsor (Berkshire) have been
jailed for 11 and 7 years.
-
Two teenagers who carried out a
series of attacks and robberies with an imitation gun in the
Nottingham area were given sentences of 7½ years
and 9 years.
-
A man who committed two armed
robberies in Darlington using an imitation handgun has been
jailed for 9 years.
-
A man has been found guilty
after attempting to rob an off licence in Leyland (Lancashire)
armed with an imitation firearm.
-
A man has admitted robbing a
petrol station Newport and possessing an imitation firearm.
-
A man who admitted a number of
charges including robbery after threatening four victims in
London Colney (Hertfordshire) with a gas-powered pellet gun
has been jailed for 6½ years.
-
A man was jailed for 4 years
after admitting robbery and possessing an imitation firearm -
he raided a shop in Blurton (Staffordshire) armed with a BB
gun.
-
Two men who attacked and robbed
a couple at their home in Weymouth (Dorset) whilst armed with
an imitation handgun and a knife have been jailed for 7 and 6 years.
-
After admitting 18 offences,
including two armed raids in Exeter, in which he used a BB
gun, a man has been jailed for 13 years.
-
A man pleaded guilty to robbery
and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to commit
robbery following a hold up at a jewellers in York and has
been jailed for 8 years.
-
A man was jailed for five years
after confessing to a robbery at a shop in Doncaster (South
Yorkshire) when he
was armed with a fake gun.
-
A man who used a blank-firing
revolver in robberies in Bradford and Manningham (West
Yorkshire) eight years ago has been jailed for nearly 7 years.
-
Another offender who pointed an
imitation pistol at a security guard in Bournemouth (Dorset)
has been jailed for 6 years.
-
Similarly, there was plenty of evidence
from court cases of how frequently imitation guns are being used to threaten victims:
-
A teenager who was drunk when he
went on the rampage armed with imitation handgun in Leighton
Buzzard pleaded guilty to a number of offences.
-
A man from Ribbleton (Preston)
who admitted threatening a rival with a BB gun and riding a
stolen motorbike unlawfully was sentenced to 26 months in a
young offenders institution.
-
Three teenagers who kidnapped a
youth and put an imitation firearm in his mouth in an incident
in Sinfin (Derby) have admitted the offences and been
sentenced to three to 3½ years.
-
A teenager who threatened a
policeman with an imitation gun in Bewbush (West Sussex) has
been given a 12-month detention and training order.
-
Another teenager from Birkenhead
who threatened a woman with a gas-powered pistol and demanded
cash he thought he was owed has been sent to a young offenders
institute for 3 years.
-
A man from Southend (Essex)
admitted a sexual attack on a schoolgirl and one count of
possessing an imitation firearm.
-
A teenager who assaulted a man
and threatened him with an imitation gun in Plymouth has been
sent to a young offenders' institution for 4 years.
-
Another teenager returned to the
college in Bristol from which she had been expelled and
pointed a BB gun at a security guard - she has been jailed for
6 months.
-
A couple from Kilmarnock (Ayrshire) confronted guests at a
neighbour's Hogmanay party with air weapons have admitted a
number of offences - both pleaded guilty to having a firearm
with intent.
-
An offender has been jailed for 5 years after being found in possession of an air pistol in
Rossendale (Lancashire) - he was also convicted of handling a
stolen motor vehicle.
-
A man with a previous conviction for having a haul of weapons,
including firearms, was found with a loaded gas-powered airgun
and shotgun cartridges at his house in Newcastle and has been
given a 12 month sentence after admitting firearms offences.
-
Another man who admitted possessing an air weapon and ammunition
when prohibited from doing so at his home in Vange (Essex) has
been jailed for 2 years.
-
A man has been admonished for
having an air pistol on him without reasonable excuse in
Hawick (Roxburghshire).
-
A teenager who hid two airguns
and an imitation firearm before setting up camp in a park in
Northampton has been told he was facing a possible custodial
sentence.
-
A man from St Helens (Merseyside) was given a 12-month
community order for carrying an air weapon in a public place.
-
A rat catcher was a 12-month conditional discharge and has had to forfeit two airguns after being
spotted by police in Darlington with the weapons.
-
A man who admitted shooting an
air rifle on the common in Tunbridge Wells (Kent) was cleared
of the charge of possessing a loaded air weapon in a public
place.
SEPTEMBER 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
For the second month running and for the
third time this year a boy has been killed after being shot with an air
weapon. The death of the 10-year-old from Swansea was described as
another "tragic accident" but provided another awful reminder of the
lethality of airguns. Yet these weapons continue to be treated in a
way which is far too casual for something so dangerous. They are not
being stored properly, they are not being kept out of the hands of
unsupervised youngsters and they are not being kept away from those who
would use them to cause harm. It is a situation which makes it too
easy for a group of teenagers to fire an air rifle at a group of toddlers at
a birthday party, as happened in Melton Mowbray this month, for a mother and
her baby to be showered with glass on a bus in Milton Keynes, for three
other people to be randomly targeted by airgun snipers and for attacks on
family pets and protected birds to continue to occur all too frequently.
The incidents reported this month emphasise once again the need for a
registration system in which ownership would be limited to those with a
genuine need to have an airgun with an obligation to store the weapons
appropriately and prevent their misuse in the type of incident reported in
these summaries every month.
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were eight fatal shooting incidents in September.
All of the victims were male.
-
Six of the shootings were
apparent homicides which occurred in:
-
Bedfordshire - a man was shot in
a street in Luton (a 17-year-old has been charged with murder)
-
Derbyshire - a taxi driver found
dead in the boot of his vehicle had been beaten and shot (a
man has been charged with murder)
-
Greater Manchester - a man was
shot on his doorstep in Oldham (two brothers have been charged
with murder)
-
London - a man was shot dead at
a house in West Norwood (south London), and another victim died
after being shot in the street in Hackney (east London) (two
teenagers have been accused of murder)
-
West Yorkshire - a man was shot
dead in a lay-by in Clayton West (Huddersfield) (one man has
been arrested).
-
A man apparently shot and killed
himself with a revolver after walking into a pub in
Fazakerley (Liverpool).
-
A 10-year-old from Swansea died
when he was shot with an airgun, reported to be his father's air
pistol, whilst playing with another boy.
-
An inquest heard how a woman
from Malvern (Worcestershire) purchased an air rifle the day
before she shot herself dead with the weapon at her home in
May - a
verdict of suicide was recorded.
-
A number of other victims were injured
in shooting attacks. These occurred mostly in London and
the West Midlands, and the number of incidents in South
London, particularly in the Wandsworth area, and Birmingham
must be of particular concern.
-
Berkshire (1) - a man was shot
four times at a mobile home park in Crowthorne (a man has been
arrested on suspicion of attempted murder)
-
Glasgow (2) - a man was
seriously injured and his partner sustained minor injuries in
a shooting in Pollok in which the victim's dog was killed
-
North London (7) - five
teenagers suffered gunshot wounds in an incident in Tottenham
(five people including one of the victims were detained), and two men,
one a
teenager, were shot in separate incidents in the same street
in Leyton
-
South London (9) - a man was
shot twice in the leg in Roehampton, two men were shot in
Battersea in possibly linked incidents (five youths have been
arrested), a man was shot in the shoulder in Southfields,
another victim was shot in the leg in Tooting, two teenage
boys, aged 15 and 16, were shot with a shotgun in Wandsworth
(the younger boy was in a serious condition after being hit in
the back), a shop worker was critically injured when he was
shot during a robbery in Croydon (two men and a woman have
been arrested) and a teenager was shot and injured in
Wandsworth
-
West Midlands (8) - a man was
shot in a street in Birmingham (two men have been arrested on
suspicion of attempted murder), a teenager was hit in the leg
in Small Heath, two men were shot at a private party in
Balsall Heath, two others were injured in a shooting in Aston,
a 16-year-old was shot in the neck in Bell Green (Coventry)
and a man was shot in the leg at a club in Brierley Hill
-
One man was shot and seriously
injured by police marksmen during an operation in Haslingden
(Lancashire) - a number of different guns are reported to have
been fired during the incident (three men have been arrested).
-
A man from Exeter shot himself
in the chest with his rifle as he was putting it back in its
cabinet after returning from hunting.
-
At least 14 other people,
many of them children or teenagers and some female, were
injured in shootings with BB guns or airguns:
-
A girl was allegedly shot with an
air rifle in Whitchurch (Shropshire) (a man has been arrested), a man
was shot in the stomach with
an air rifle whilst attending a party in Torquay (Devon),
three toddlers at a birthday party in Melton Mowbray
(Leicestershire) were targeted
with an air rifle as they played on a trampoline (four
teenagers were arrested), a 17-year-old was shot in the
stomach with an airgun in Corby (Northamptonshire) and a mother and her baby were
showered with glass when a bus was shot at with an airgun in
Milton Keynes.
-
A man was shot with a BB gun
outside a nightclub in Crystal Palace (south London), a woman walking her dog in
Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) is believed to have been hit with a
ball-bearing gun pellet, children playing in a park in
Blackpool (Lancashire) were shot at by six youths with ball
bearing guns (one boy was injured; three youths were given youth referral orders
and a number of guns were confiscated), a 10-year-old boy was assaulted with
a BB gun by older youths in Gloucester, an 11-year-old boy was shot in the
face with a pellet gun at a school in Wembley (north west
London) and a 16-year-old shot at with a BB gun, beaten and
pistol whipped by other teenagers in Billericay (Essex).
-
A teenage girl attacked in
Chiswick (west London) may have been injured with an imitation
firearm (an 18-year-old have been charged with GBH with
intent and possession of an imitation firearm to cause fear
and violence).
-
A female travel agent was shot
in the arm with a stun gun during a robbery in Ashton (Greater
Manchester).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - There were robberies and
attempted robberies allegedly involving guns at Banks and
Post Offices
in Melbourne (Derby) and Staple Tye (Essex), Bookmakers in Bury (Greater Manchester)
(a shotgun was used), Hornsey (north London) and Bradford,
a Petrol Station in Bilston (West Midlands) (a
handgun), Pubs, Restaurants
and Cafés in Horton Cross (Somerset), Chadderton (Greater
Manchester) (a handgun), Cheshunt (Hertfordshire) and West
Vale (West Yorkshire) (an airgun), Shops in
Benton (Tyneside) (a shotgun; two men have been charged),
Burnley (Lancashire) (a shotgun; two people were arrested),
Sandiacre (Derbyshire) (a stun gun), Hoole (Chester) (an
imitation firearm), Kettering (Northamptonshire) (one man was
hit with the barrel of a shotgun; two men were being
questioned), Northampton (a handgun), Croydon (a shop worker
was shot and critically injured - see above) and Hurst Green
(Surrey) (a shotgun was fired) and a Travel Agents in
Ashton (Greater Manchester) (a stun gun; a woman was injured -
see above).
-
Security men were robbed
of cash at a petrol station in Braidwood (Lanarkshire), in
Battersea (south London; shots were fired) and Kempston
(Bedfordshire) (a shotgun was used).
-
A robber who threatened his
landlady in Hove (Sussex) before escaping with £200 in cash
was charged with five other robberies in Sussex, on premises in
Brighton, Haywards Heath and Crawley - a replica handgun was
found by police.
-
A car was stolen from a woman in
Buttershaw (Bradford) by a man with a handgun. A taxi
driver was robbed and injured and threatened with what is
believed to have been a firearm in Walker (Tyneside). A
youngster had a gun held to his head in Hollinwood (Greater
Manchester) by teenagers who demanded his bike. A burger
van trader had a cash card and cash stolen and his van trashed
by four robbers with a gun in Nottingham.
-
A man was arrested after a
number of thefts in streets in Wood Green (north London) - he
was charged with eight counts of robbery and attempted robbery
and seven counts of possessing an imitation firearm. Two
men armed with a stun gun stole a wallet from a man on a canal
towpath in Long Eaton (Derbyshire). A man was robbed of
his phone and cash in Whitby (North Yorkshire) by two men
armed with
what is believed to have been a handgun.
-
A teenager was charged with
robbery after a handbag was stolen at a music festival near
Aspatria (Cumbria) - he is reported to have brandished a
replica firearm.
-
A man has been accused of
brandishing an imitation handgun and robbing a security van in
Ilford (east London) in June this year.
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired during a number of
other incidents:
-
Bedfordshire - a gunman fired a
shot outside a club in Luton
-
Birmingham - a road was closed
in Bordesley after shots were fired
-
Cheshire - a gun was fired in a
street in Winsford
-
Essex - a man has charged with
possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life after
gunshots were head in a car park in Southend (a handgun was
recovered)
-
Leicester - two men were charged
with attempted murder after shots were fired
-
London
- a car was damaged in a street in
Gants Hill, another car was damaged on an estate in Tulse Hill
and a front door was hit by shotgun pellets in Battersea
-
Merseyside - shots were fired at
four people in a car in Everton, and three shots were fired at
a house in West Derby
-
Scotland - the front door of a
house in Dalkeith (Midlothian) was shot at during the night,
probably with a shotgun
-
Somerset - a shotgun was fired
through the letterbox at a home near Brushford
-
West Yorkshire - shots were
fired at the occupant of a vehicle in Birkby, and a shotgun was fired from
a car in West Bowling (Bradford), shattering a window in
another vehicle
-
In Battersea (south London) a
man tried to shoot a gun from the back of a motorbike.
-
A woman was threatened with a
shotgun by two men who smashed into her home in Droylsden
(Greater Manchester).
-
Three men from Birmingham were
charged after police found a loaded sawn-off shotgun in a car.
A man from Plymouth has been accused of a number of offences
involving a number of different guns including a shotgun, a
handgun and stun gun. Following an incident in Ayr a man was charged with possession of a firearm and a
woman faces other charges. A man from Ribbleton
(Lancashire) has been charged with possessing a handgun and
possessing a gun when prohibited from doing so. A man from Golders Green (north
London) faces a charge of possessing a prohibited firearm and
ammunition as well as other charges after police searched
thousands of safety deposit boxes. Seven men were arrested in a
series of raids in Huyton (Merseyside) as part of a crackdown
on gun crime.
-
North Wales Police mounted a
search after reports of men being seen with guns in a nature
reserve in Conwy.
-
A teenager from Blackbird Leys
(Oxford) was arrested after brandishing a stun gun.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - Besides those incidents which
resulted in injury (see above) there were many other incidents involving airguns and
imitation weapons. They were probably used in many of the armed robberies
and this was certainly so in at least six robberies allegedly carried out by
the same man in Sussex, the theft of a handbag in Cumbria,
seven street robberies allegedly committed by one man in Wood Green (north London),
in a
security van hold up in Ilford (east London) and robberies at
a pub in West
Vale (West Yorkshire) and a shop in Hoole (Cheshire). The
frequent use of imitation firearms in armed robberies is also
apparent from media reports of court cases (see below).
-
A 16-year-old was arrested
following a siege at a house in Marshchapel (Lincolnshire) -
an air weapon and knife were recovered.
-
In Mansfield (Nottinghamshire) a
man was charged with possession of a BB gun with intent to
cause fear of violence.
-
In Bellsbank (Ayrshire) armed
police were called to an incident in which
three teenagers had a plastic BB gun.
-
A 19-year-old was arrested and a
BB gun seized after a man was seen wielding a handgun at a
bowling alley in Ipswich.
-
More than 40 people had to be
evacuated from a building in Swindon (Wiltshire) - a man was
arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm, allegedly a
replica, in a public place
-
Two men were arrested in Walton
(Surrey), one for affray and possession of a ball bearing gun
after what is believed to have been a drinking session
-
Two teenagers were charged with
possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear
of violence after a brawl in Chorley (Lancashire)
-
One of two brothers involved in
a fight in Bristol in July has been charged with possession of
an imitation handgun
-
A 16-year-old was arrested on
suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence after two youths were seen pointing
pistols at motorists in York
-
Seven teenagers were arrested
after they filmed YouTube videos of themselves with an imitation gun in Wood
Green and Hornsey (north London).
-
A woman forced to flee her home
in Scotstoun (Glasgow) discovered weapons, including an
airgun, belonging to her neighbours in a communal cupboard.
-
The following acts of vandalism
were carried out with airguns and BB guns:
-
Airguns were probably used to damage
a school bus in
Cardiff, two cars driving along the same
road in Warfield (Berkshire), three cars whose drivers reported damage
in Oswaldtwistle (Lancashire), other cars in Sheringham and
North Walsham (Norfolk) and in Halifax (West Yorkshire), the
Coastwatch station in Felixstowe (Suffolk), the windows of a
charity base in Scunthorpe (Humberside) and a care home window
in Bridlington (East Yorkshire)
-
Windows were shattered at a home
in Dorking (Surrey) possibly as a result of an attack with a
BB gun, the window of a home in Bishop's
Cleeve (Gloucestershire) was smashed with a BB gun pellet and
another house window was damaged in Almondbury (West
Yorkshire) by a BB gun or air weapon
-
Five teenagers were arrested in
Walmer (Kent) when a paintball gun was fired at cars and
houses.
-
A 15-year-old has been cautioned
for possession of an imitation firearm in Whitley (Berkshire).
A man was charged with possessing an air weapon in a public
place after being seen carrying the weapon in Polegate (East
Sussex).
-
A ball bearing gun was among
items confiscated from away fans at a football match in
Oxford.
-
Imitation guns were confiscated
by police from two shops and a market stall in Burnley.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Guns were found during
searches in which drugs were recovered in Lower Caversham
(Berkshire) (a blank-firing pistol) and Cardonald (Glasgow).
-
A gun was recovered during a
series of raids in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and
Hertfordshire aimed at organised crime, and police found a cache of air
weapons during a raid in Houston (Renfrewshire).
-
A shotgun and cartridges were
stolen from a home in Rhyl (Clwyd), and three shotguns were
among items stolen from a house in Chinnor (Oxfordshire).
-
An air rifle was stolen from a
flat in Leamington Spa (Warwickshire) by men who threatened
the owner with the gun, an air pistol was stolen from the boot
of a car in Bolton (Lancashire) and a .22 air rifle was stolen
from a car in Meltham (West Yorkshire).
-
Incidents Involving Animals - More animals and birds suffered
as a result of shooting incidents reported during September,
some of which were fatal. Cats
fell victim to a number of airgun and pellet gun attacks, this
month in Derbyshire, Essex (two incidents), Lincolnshire (two
incidents), Suffolk, Surrey and Swansea
-
There were reports from Cheshire
and the West Midlands of swans and
geese being shot. A rare
kestrel was shot with a BB gun in Tyneside and a protected
peregrine falcon was found wounded following a shotgun attack
in North Yorkshire.
-
Convictions - A man has been found guilty of
murder following the death of his partner who was shot at "point blank" range
at their home in Thorne (South Yorkshire) with the killer's legally-owned shotgun
- he will serve a minimum of 21 years.
A man has pleaded guilty to murder and possession of a firearm
with intent to endanger life - he shot and killed a man with a
revolver in
Mottingham (south London). A man who shot dead a
teenager in Walworth (south London) was found guilty of murder
and will serve at least 32 years.
-
A man has been jailed
indefinitely for an attack on a 15-year-old girl and a robbery
in which he was armed with a gun and a knife - both crimes
took place in Kingsbury (north west London).
-
A teenager, one of eight men
responsible for serious violence and disorder in Leeds, was
given a 12 year sentence for various offences including
possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear and violence
and possession of a prohibited weapon.
-
Three men were found guilty of
their involvement in a gunpoint kidnapping of two shopworkers
who were falsely imprisoned in Plumstead (south east London) -
three others had already pleaded guilty.
-
One of two men responsible for
an armed robbery at a home in Torquay during which three men were
tied up at gunpoint and stamps stolen has been found guilty and jailed for
at least 10 years.
-
A man thought to have been armed
with a gun when he robbed a betting shop in Brighton has been
jailed for 4 years. A man has admitted robbery and
possession of a gun following a robbery at a store in
Tilehurst (Berkshire).
-
An 18-year-old from Timperley
(Cheshire) was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to
possessing a sawn-off shotgun and other charges. A 19-year-old woman was
sentenced to two years for hiding a revolver for a man at her
home in Cricklewood (north west London).
-
An ex-Scotland international
under-19 shooter from Longniddry (East Lothian) was jailed for
nearly 4 years after pleading guilty to 8 charges relating to
the purchase of prohibited weapons over the internet.
-
Four teenagers from Parson Cross
(Sheffield) have been jailed for between 2 and 4½ years after
displaying weapons including shotguns on social networking
sites.
-
A man from Newport (Gwent) was
given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty to
possession of rimfire ammunition.
-
Four men were given sentences of
between six and eight years for a series of raids on stores in
the West Midlands in which they were armed with a stun gun,
hammers and knives. A man who used a stun gun to
beat his victim during a street robbery in Glasgow has been
jailed for 5½ years. An Oxford woman who pleaded guilty
to managing brothels received a further 18 months sentence for
possession of a stun gun and a knife.
-
A police officer who shot a
civilian worker during a training exercise in Kidlington
(Oxfordshire) pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety
rules. Thames Valley Police who had also pleaded guilty
were fined £40,000.
-
Gun Factories (Convictions)
- There were two more examples in September of how the easy
availability of replica weapons has provided a supply of real
guns for criminal use. A man who bought up replica
firearms and starting pistols and converted them in his home
in Huyton (Merseyside), and was described as a "dealer in
death" by the judge, was jailed for 20 years after pleading
guilty to a number of charges of conspiring to supply guns and
ammunition - other members of the gang were convicted and
three have been sentenced to between 30 months and 7 years.
Another man, an ex-soldier who used skills he acquired in the
Royal Artillery to convert replica guns into real weapons in
factories in Essex and Bath, pleaded guilty to two counts of
possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, converting
imitation firearms into real guns and possessing or
manufacturing prohibited ammunitions - the weapons he
converted were supplied to street gangs in Liverpool,
Manchester and the West Midlands and have been linked to 28
incidents including one alleged murder.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases)
-
Three men were cleared of
firearms charges following the death of a teenage girl who was
shot in the eye with an airgun pellet at a party in Bury -
they were cleared of possessing a firearm without a licence
because the .22 airgun did not require one.
-
A man who shot a postman in
Barrhead (Renfrewshire) with an air pistol has been jailed for
3 years and 9 months. Another man has admitted assaulting
and injuring a young teenager by firing a BB gun at him in
Cumnock (Ayrshire).
-
A 19-year-old from Leeswood
(Clwyd) who held an air rifle to the head of a man has
admitted possessing his father's gun with intent to cause fear
of violence and received 2 years youth custody. An
offender who drunkenly pointed an air rifle at his partner's
chest at their home in Worcester was given a 16 week suspended
custodial sentence and ordered to carry out 60 hours unpaid
work. Another man who had been drinking
heavily has admitted brandishing an airgun at a police officer
during an incident in Tenterden (Kent) - he pleaded guilty to
possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and
two other offences. A man who waved a toy gun at
police in Melton Mowbray admitted affray and possession of an
imitation firearm and was given a suspended 15-week jail
sentence.
-
A man who called paramedics to
his home in Worthing (Sussex) and pointed a gun at them was
found guilty of possession of an imitation firearm with intent
to cause fear of violence and jailed for 4 years.
-
A man involved in a siege at his
house in Cresswell (Northumberland) threatened to kill himself
and suffered superficial wounds from a .22 air rifle - he
admitted possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear and
was jailed for 21 months. Another man who pointed an air rifle
at himself during a siege at a house in Kilmacolm
(Renfrewshire) has pleaded guilty to various offences. A man was stopped from hurting
himself by two police officers when he walked into a police
station in Woodford (Essex) armed with an airgun and a kitchen
knife - he was found guilty of possessing an air weapon and
possessing a knife.
-
A woman arrested in Glasgow with
a toy gun has admitted possession of an imitation firearm and
possessing such an item with intent to commit assault - she
had travelled over 200 miles with the apparent intention to
attack her husband.
-
A man who sparked a gun scare
when he was seen with an air pistol on a train and in a taxi
in Airdrie (Lanarkshire) has been jailed for 16 months after
admitting two charges of possessing a firearm with intent to
cause someone to believe that unlawful violence might be used.
Another man from Burton (Staffordshire) admitting possessing
an imitation handgun with intent to cause three men to fear
that unlawful violence would take place.
-
There were a number of
convictions for robberies and attempted robberies in which the
offender(s) was armed with an imitation firearm. The
incidents occurred:
-
at shops and post offices in Dundonald
(Ayrshire) (the man admitted presenting an imitation firearm),
Bearwood (Dorset) (a man has been jailed for 3 years) and in Brislington
(Bristol) when a store supervisor was shot in the back with a
gas-powered air pistol (a man has been convicted and jailed
for 10 years)
-
at bookmakers in north west
London (two men were sentenced to 3 years and 18 months) and
in north London and Hertfordshire (two brothers have been
jailed for 6 years)
-
at homes in Hartlepool (one of
the men who pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and
possession of an imitation firearm was armed with a fake
submachine gun), Crewe
(Cheshire) (five men pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary
and possession of an imitation firearm) and Doncaster in which
one of three men brandished an imitation firearm (he was
given a 39 month sentence)
-
in Pinner (north west London)
where motorists were targeted (a man has been sentenced to 6 years in a
detention centre)
-
in Birmingham where the offenders'
brother-in-law was pistol-whipped and his taxi taken (two men were jailed for 8 years)
-
in a robbery in Woking (Surrey)
in which the victim was ambushed after the
placement of fake car adverts on the internet (two men have
been jailed for 7 and 6 years)
-
A man who walked into a pharmacy
in Paisley (Renfrewshire) with a fake gun whilst "out of it" has been jailed
for 10 months.
-
A 16-year-old has admitted breaching
his curfew order, possession of a fake gun (an imitation
handgun) and assaulting a police officer in Sunderland.
-
A man and a woman caught with an
imitation firearm and cannabis plants at their home in Little
Downham (Cambridgeshire) were given suspended prison sentences
and community service.
-
Two teenagers who were firing an
air rifle on wasteland in Hartlepool admitted having a weapon
in a public place and were fined £65 each. A man
arrested in Weston-super-Mare (Somerset) was given a suspended 12-week
prison sentence after pleading guilty to possessing an air
rifle in a public place.
OCTOBER 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths
and Injuries
- There
were three fatal shooting incidents reported in
October. Two of them were homicides, both of which
occurred in London - the victims were killed in Tottenham and
Clapton, and police are investigating whether the deaths are
linked by gang rivalry.
-
A pensioner
was found shot dead in Brighouse - his death was not being
treated as suspicious.
-
Eleven
other victims were injured in shooting attacks:
-
Cheshire
(1) - a man had to have a finger amputated after a shooting
in Runcorn
-
Greater
Manchester (1) - a man was shot in both legs, probably with
a shotgun, in Swinton
-
Kent (1)
- a man was shot in the stomach during a suspected road rage
incident in Alkham
-
London
(5) - a man was in a critical condition after being shot in
Feltham, and four teenagers were victims of other incidents
in which one of six teenagers targeted in a drive-by
shooting in Mitcham was hit in the leg (this incident
probably occurred at the end of September), a 15-year-old
boy sustained serious injuries in Clapham (a man has been
questioned by police), another was seriously injured in
Stockwell and a 16-year-old was shot in Kilburn
-
Merseyside (2) - a teenager was shot in the shoulder in
Dovecot (five people have been arrested), and a man was
seriously injured in a shooting outside a pub in Kirkby
-
West
Midlands (1) - a man was shot in an apparent targetted
attack in Longford near Coventry
-
A man was
shot by police marksmen in Holloway (north London) after
police were called following reports of gunshots.
-
A man was
attacked with a stun gun and then stabbed in the neck at a
property in Tottenham (north London).
-
At least
15 other people, including a disproportionate number of
youngsters, were injured in shootings with BB guns and
airguns:
-
Cheshire
- a man was shot in the eye with an air rifle pellet while
he was walking near Knutsford
-
Cumbria -
a man was shot with a ball-bearing gun in a street in
Carlisle
-
Derbyshire - a 12-year-old boy was shot in the face with a
BB gun by a group of youths in Ilkeston
-
Devon - a
youth was hit in the wrist when an air rifle sniper shot at
him as he was driving in Plymouth
-
Hertfordshire - a 12-year-old boy who arrived at a care
centre in Hemel Hempstead had been shot in the head with an
air rifle at a friends' house
-
Lancashire - three police officers were hit by air rifle
pellets fired by a teenager from his home in Heysham, and an
8-year-old was hit with a pellet from a BB gun in Blackburn
(one 14-year-old boy has been fined and another given a
Youth Referral Form)
-
Scotland
- a woman was allegedly shot in the face with an airgun in
Montrose (Angus) (a man was arrested), and a 15-year-old
girl has been partially blinded after she and a friend were
shot with a BB gun in
Dundee (a 13-year-old boy has been charged)
-
Somerset
- a taxi driver in Weston-super-Mare sustained an injury to
his finger when he was hit by an airgun pellet
-
West
Midlands - a man was shot in the arm in a one of a number of
shooting incidents in Bloxwich, probably involving an air
rifle - other people including an 8-year-old girl were
apparently targetted but the shots missed them (see also
Airguns and Imitation Guns below)
-
West
Sussex - a man was shot in the back of the head with an
airgun whilst walking in Worthing
-
A BB gun
was one of three weapons brandished by a man who attacked a
man outside a pub in Crumpsall (Manchester).
-
Armed Hold-Ups and
Assaults -
There were robberies and attempted robberies allegedly involving guns at
Banks, Building Societies and Post Offices in Redcar (Teesside) (a
man was charged with attempted robbery and possession of an imitation
firearm), Ouston (County Durham) (a handgun was used), South Croydon
(south London) (handgun), Newbury Park (east London), Sketty (Swansea)
(handgun), Foleshill (Coventry) and Plymouth (probably involving an
airgun), a Bookmakers in Armley (West Yorkshire) (handgun),
Cafes and Restaurants in Swindon (Wiltshire) and Edinburgh (handgun),
a Club in Kirkby (Merseyside) (shotgun), Petrol Stations in
Oxford (plastic gun) and Leicester, Shops in Wembley (north west
London), Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire), Normanton (Derby), Longfield (south
London) (toy gun), Selby (North Yorkshire) (one man has been charged),
Wood Green (north London) and Worthing (West Sussex).
-
In an incident in West
Hampstead (north west London) a man attempted to steal a moped and pointed
a gun at its rider but the weapon failed to fire when he pulled the
trigger - the man was arrested later along with a second suspect - three
guns and a quantity of diamonds were recovered.
-
There were
Carjackings in which guns were probably involved in Luton
(Bedfordshire) (a man was arrested and two firearms recovered), Reddish
(Greater Manchester) and from a petrol station near Thame (Oxfordshire)
(four men have been arrested).
-
Money was stolen from a
car in Cradley Heath (Birmingham)
by two men with a shotgun.
-
A man had a gun held to
his head during a robbery at a house in Houghton-le-Spring (Country
Durham) by a gang armed with a sword, stun gun and shotgun.
-
A teenager was robbed
of his phone and wallet in a street in Chippenham (Wiltshire) (two
people have been arrested and charged with robbery and possession of an
imitation firearm). A man is to be charged with possession of a shotgun
with intent to cause fear of violence as well as other charges including
robbing one woman of a handbag in St Albans (Hertfordshire).
-
A man who attempted to
rob a woman in Maryhill (Glasgow) threatened her with a stun gun but fled
empty-handed.
-
A number of arrests
were made following earlier robberies:
-
A suspect was charged
with conspiracy to commit armed robbery and possession of an imitation
firearm following recent armed robberies in Brent and Harrow (north west
London).
-
Two men were arrested
in Bromley (south
London)
and charged with conspiracy to commit robbery and the unlawful
possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence.
-
A man was charged
with attempted robbery and possession of a firearm at a bookmakers in
Newton-le-Willows (Merseyside) in September.
-
Police have named a
man in connection with a robbery at a games store in Jarrow (Tyneside)
earlier this year in which staff were threatened with a shotgun.
-
A woman described a
gunpoint robbery at her home in Colwyn Bay (Clwyd) and CCTV images were
released from a robbery at a store in Trafford (Greater Manchester)
involving two men with a handgun - both robberies took place in August.
-
Other Incidents
- Shots were fired
during a number of other incidents:
-
A policeman had a gun
held to his head after he chased and cornered a youth who had shot at
him in Hackney (east
London)
-
A weapon, believed to
be a shotgun, was fired at a bus in
Bradford
damaging windows
-
Two youths in Mitcham
(south
London) fired shots from motor scooters smashing car
windows
-
A car was shot at in
Toxteth (Liverpool) and was later found abandoned
-
Two men were
arrested, one on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to
endanger life, after a pistol was used to fire a blank in South Tyneside
-
A motorcyclist fired
a shotgun at a house in
Salford (Greater Manchester)
-
Shots were fired at a
house in Brent (north west
London)
-
Two men and a woman
were arrested in
Bedford
following reports of a shooting
-
A man was arrested
after unconfirmed reports of gunfire in Sutton Coldfield (West Midlands)
-
A firearm is thought
to have been discharged during a burglary in Frizinghall (Bradford)
-
A group of men who
began firing shotguns in a field in Epping (Essex) gave concern to local
residents
-
Shots were heard
in the vicinity of a hospital in Bordesley Green (Birmingham)
-
A gang with a gun who
made threats to kill someone in Cambridge were arrested after a police
chase to Leicestershire.
-
A man has been
transferred into the care of mental health professionals after he was seen
wielding a handgun in Trottiscliffe (Kent).
-
A man has been reported
to the procurator fiscal after a firearms incident on farmland in
Aberdeenshire. A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm
with intent to cause fear of violence at a stately home near Cannock
(Staffordshire).
-
Armed police swooped on
a street in
York
after a youth was reported to have been seen pointing a shotgun at a
member of the public - a youth was arrested but not charged.
-
A man has denied
possessing a pistol without a certificate after the gun, ammunition and a
silencer were discovered in an abandoned car in Far Cotton (Northampton).
A teenager was charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition after a
loaded handgun was found in a car in Gorton (Greater Manchester).
-
A man from
Minchinhampton (Gloucestershire) has appeared in court and pleaded not
guilty to charges relating to the possession of a number of firearms. A
man has been charged with illegal possession of a sawn-off shotgun found
alongside licensed firearms on a boat moored in Brixham (Devon). A man
has pleaded not guilty to possessing an altered firearm after he was
alleged to have had a sawn-off shotgun in Chiseldon (Wiltshire).
-
A man from Sowerby
Bridge (West Yorkshire) has been charged after a stun gun was found at his
house.
-
A gang of young men
armed with paintball guns have been taking pot-shots at prostitutes in
Leicester.
-
A 15-year-old has been
arrested in Wandsworth (south London) for storing ammunition at home.
-
Airguns and Imitation
Guns -
Besides those incidents which resulted in injury (see above) there were
many other incidents involving airguns and imitation weapons. They were
probably used in many of the armed robberies, and this was
apparently the case in robberies in
Redcar (Teesside), Brent and
Harrow (north west
London), Chippenham (Wiltshire), Longfield (south
London),
Plymouth and Oxford. Three men appeared in court charged with robbery
after carjackings in the
Black Country
- one of the men denied three charges of possessing an imitation firearm.
-
Three teenage boys have
been charged with possessing an imitation firearm in connection with an
incident in which a boy was thrown into a skip in Birmingham.
-
Two men were arrested
in Bilsborrow (Lancashire) after a man reported he was shot at with an air
rifle. There were reports that an airgun had been fired at two men in
separate incidents in Ivybridge (Devon)
(an air weapon has been handed to police).
-
A man was arrested
after firing an air rifle at a fence in a car park in Gloucester.
-
Five teenagers were
arrested and an air rifle recovered after fears that a gunman was on the
loose in Beeston (West Yorkshire).
-
A man was chased by
armed police officers at Tottenham Court Road station (central London)
after being seen with what is believed was a gas-powered pellet gun.
-
The following acts of
vandalism involved airguns and BB guns:
-
A pensioner in Leith
fears a gang who have left him a prisoner in his home may have started
firing airguns at his home, and a woman in
Northampton
has been left terrified after having the window of her living room shot
at. A ball bearing gun has been fired through the window of a family
home in Burbage (Leicestershire).
-
A car was damaged in
one of several shooting incidents in Bloxwich (West Midlands) believed
to have involved an air rifle and in which at least one person was hit
(see Gun Deaths and Injuries above). Parked cars were damaged by
shots fired from an airgun in Leyland (Lancashire) (a man has been
arrested). Four buses were damaged when an air rifle was fired at them
in Basildon (Essex). Houses and cars were shot at with an air rifle in
Ormsgill (Cumbria) (two teenagers were detained). Cars and businesses
were damaged in Longridge (Lancashire) by youths with BB guns and
catapults. A burger van window was shattered by a shot from an airgun
or BB gun in Leigh Sinton (Worcestershire).
-
A man seen with a gun
in a car park in Sittingbourne (Kent) was arrested for possession of an
imitation firearm.
-
A woman was released
without charge after police raided a house in York and found a suspected
firearm, a ball-bearing gun - a man remained in custody.
-
The Metropolitan Police
are investigating a video apparently featuring a police officer allowing
himself to be shot with an air pistol.
-
Other Gun Recoveries
and Thefts -
Guns were found during searches in which drugs were also recovered in
Dewsbury (West Yorkshire) (a stun gun), Lincoln (a high-powered airgun),
South Elmsall (West Yorkshire (an air rifle), Devizes (an air rifle and an
imitation handgun), Speke (Liverpool) (a handgun was found), Lowestoft
(Suffolk) (a stun gun; a paintball gun), Bensham (Tyneside) (two
blank-firing handguns), Surrey (stun gun).
-
A number of weapons
were found during raids in
London
which targeted gang violence - two pistols were discovered in Tower
Hamlets, and a shotgun, pistol and ammunition in Islington. In another
find in Islington a firearm, stun gun and other weapons were recovered and
a man wanted for armed robbery in Liverpool was arrested.
-
Another man was
arrested on suspicion of possession of a section 1 firearm after a pistol
was found under a patio in Hunslet (West Yorkshire).
-
Seven firearms and
ammunition have been recovered from gardens in Old Swan and Kirkby
(Merseyside) (one man has been charged and three other people were
arrested). Two men and a woman were arrested after a shotgun was
recovered from a house in Washington (County Durham).
-
An imitation gun was
recovered by police investigating sex trafficking during an operation in
Manor Park (east London).
-
Two ball-bearing guns
found in a churchyard in Nafferton (West Yorkshire)
were destroyed by police.
-
Air weapons and a BB
gun were found during searches in the Swansea area and elsewhere in South
Wales for a man who had escaped after being sentenced for a firearm
offence.
-
A rifle was stolen from
a house in Bedworth (Warwickshire) - armed police had surrounded the
property after reports of a burglar with a gun.
-
Incidents Involving
Animals -
More animals and birds suffered as a result of shooting incidents reported
during October, some of which were fatal. Cats and dogs were the victims
of airgun and pellet gun attacks in Angus, Bedfordshire, Bradford, Derby,
East London, Greater Manchester, Leicestershire, Morayshire, Norfolk,
Northampton, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and
Worcestershire. A cat was shot with a shotgun in East Lothian.
-
Two stags were shot and
killed with a high-powered rifle in Somerset.
-
Airguns were probably
responsible for the death of a prize pigeon in Sandhurst (Berkshire) and a
protected barn owl in Pershore (Worcestershire).
-
A swan rescued because
of other injuries from a river in Cambridgeshire was found to have an
airgun pellet in its chest.
-
Convictions
- Three trials that followed fatal shootings were concluded in
October:
-
A 16-year-old was
found guilty of murder after he set off a train of events which led to
the death of a man in Shepherd's Bush (west London) - another man who
was cleared of murder was jailed for 10 years for possessing a firearm
with intent to endanger life
-
One man, aged 19,
pleaded guilty and another was found guilty of the murder of a
15-year-old who was shot dead in a park in Derby
-
A man was acquitted
of manslaughter and two women of other charges relating to the fatal
shooting of a woman in
High Wycombe
(Buckinghamshire) in 2004
-
One man has been jailed
for 8 years for firing a gun during fights between two gangs in Sutton
(south London) - police recovered a sawn-off shotgun.
-
A man who fired an
illegal gas gun in
King's Lynn (Norfolk)
has been jailed for a month.
-
A number of men were
convicted of offences relating to armed robberies and burglaries
involving guns. The majority of the cases involved imitation firearms
(see below). In the other cases:
-
A man pleaded guilty
and his brother was found guilty of an armed robbery at a post office in
Briton Ferry (West Glamorgan) in which they were armed with a pistol and a sword
-
A number of men have
been sentenced during the last two months for a robbery outside a bank
in Bradford when what looked like a handgun was pointed at a security
guard - the sentences ranged from 3½ years to 14 years (some of the men
had been involved in other raids)
-
Another person has
been jailed for participating in the £53 million robbery at a security
depot in Tonbridge (Kent) in 2006 - he admitted conspiracy to kidnap and
possessing a firearm and received an 18 year sentence
-
Two men arrested in
Southampton have been sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in jail for
aggravated burglary and possessing a stun gun and a shotgun
-
There were a number of
other convictions for possession of firearms:
-
Three men have
admitted conspiracy to possess firearms and explosives and drug offences
during a trial in which a fourth man has denied the same charges -
various firearms are alleged to have been found at the latter's flat in
Bristol.
-
A man who admitted
possession of a shotgun and an explosive detonator, found during
searches at properties in
Dalton
and Crosland Moor (West Yorkshire), has been jailed for 3 years and 9
months.
-
A man from Stretford
(Greater Manchester) was given a 5 year jail sentence after admitting
possessing a self-loading pistol and ammunition.
-
Another man, from
Dyfatty (Swansea), who was also given a 5 year sentence for possessing a
shotgun and breaching the terms of his licence absconded minutes later.
-
Four men cleared of
involvement in a shooting incident in Cambridge were, however, jailed
for 15, 10, 3½ and 3½ years after being found guilty of conspiracy to
possess a firearm - the two men who received the longer sentences were
also guilty of drug offences.
-
Another four men were
jailed for between 5 and 10 years for supplying illegal drugs - during
the operation which led to their conviction police found machine guns,
shotguns, rifles, handguns and ammunition during raids on properties in
Glasgow, Paisley and Clydebank.
-
Three men have been
found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life
after a pistol was found in a car in Burnage (Greater Manchester).
-
A girl who was 16 at
the time of the offence has pleaded guilty to possessing a pistol in her
handbag in
Brunswick
(Manchester) - she was keeping the weapon for her 19-year-old boyfriend
who has also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm.
-
A man who had a
pistol and cartridges in his car in Southend (Essex) has been jailed for
5 years after admitting a number of offences including possession of a
firearm.
-
A drug dealer from
Baddeley Green (Stoke-on-Trent) has been given a 5 year sentence after a
rifle and ammunition were found in his van.
-
A man who was caught
with a handgun in Parkhead (Glasgow) has been jailed for 5 years and 2
months after admitting three firearms charges.
-
Another man caught
with a handgun in Hermiston Gate (Edinburgh) has been given a life
sentence.
-
A 17-year-old was
jailed for 3 years for possession of a shotgun found hidden in his home
in Southampton.
-
A number of men have
been sentenced for offences involving stun guns in:
-
Aberdeen - a
16-year-old has been sent to a young offenders' institution for 2½ years
after a stun gun attack which left the victim disfigured
-
Chatteris
(Cambridgeshire) - a man admitted possessing a stun gun, a knife and
class C drugs at his home and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of
unpaid work
-
Derby - a man was
given a suspended 17-week prison sentence
-
Inverness - a man was
also found with drugs and has been ordered to carry out 300 hours of
community service
-
Musselburgh
(Midlothian) - the offender was sentenced to 200 hours' community
service after being caught with a stun gun
-
Oxford - a
19-year-old has been banned from going out at weekends after he
brandished a stun gun he found on the ground at two men
-
Pontyclun (Mid
Glamorgan) - a man found with a stun gun when police were called to a
pub has received a suspended 26-week prison sentence
-
Portmead (Swansea) -
a man admitted possession of a prohibited weapon
-
Winchester
(Hampshire) - the offender broke into a flat and attacked the occupant,
hitting him with a stun gun and has been jailed for 3½ years
-
Wincham (Cheshire) -
the offender was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for a year, after
also admitting cultivation and possession of cannabis
-
Airguns and Imitation
Guns (Court Cases) -
A teenager who wounded
his ex-girlfriend with an air rifle, shooting her in the leg during an
attack at his home in New Haw (Surrey), has been sent to a young
offenders' institution for 2 years.
-
A man who admitted
firing a BB gun at a 15-year-old girl in Milnathort (Kinross-shire),
injuring her leg, has been ordered to pay compensation and to attend a
3-month rehabilitation course.
-
A man from Linlithgow
(West Lothian) who threatened his ex-wife's husband with an imitation gun
has pleaded guilty to breach of the peace and to breaching the Firearms
Act and been jailed for nearly 3 years.
-
A man has admitted
causing a 13-year-old to believe that an imitation firearm would be used
against him in
Aberdeen.
-
There were a number of
convictions for robberies and attempted robberies in which the
offender was armed with an imitation firearm. The incidents occurred:
-
at shops and post
offices in the
West Midlands
- four men, including two teenagers, were given custodial sentences of
between 4½ years and 6 years and 3 months
-
during a mugging in
Redditch (Worcestershire) when cash, drugs and a mobile phone were taken
- a man was jailed for 2½ years
-
during a robbery at a
house - the offender from Welham Green (Hertfordshire) had his sentence
reduced to 5 years on appeal
-
during a street
robbery in Haverhill (Suffolk) - the victim was aged 13, the gunman was
an older teenager and was sent to a young offenders' institution for 2½
years, his accomplice was jailed for 3 years and 4 months
-
during a string of
robberies across Yorkshire including one on a taxi driver in
Scarborough - the offender has had his sentence reduced to 8½
years but must remain on an "extended licence" for 5 years on release
-
at a shop in South
Shields - the robber has been jailed indefinitely and will serve a
minimum of 5 years
-
at a pharmacy in Ayr
- the robber used his son's toy gun and has been jailed for 6 years
-
at a shop in
Portswood (Southampton) - two men were jailed for 3 and 4 years after
pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to rob and possession of an
imitation firearm with intent
-
on a bus in Erdington
(Birmingham) where three of four robberies and attempted robberies on
teenagers were perpetrated by a man with an imitation firearm who was
been jailed for 5½ years - the other robbery took place in Sutton
Coldfield
-
at bookmakers in
north west London - two men were caught after an attempted robbery in
Kingsbury and have been given 6 and 3 year sentences
-
carjackings in the
Black Country - one person has admitted his involvement in one of three
robberies, two other men are still on trial
-
during a hold-up near
Silk Mills (Somerset)
- a woman has been given a 24-month supervision order and required to
undergo drug rehabilitation
-
A man who pointed an
air rifle at door staff at a pub in Ealing (west London) was given a
suspended 8-month jail sentence and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of
unpaid work.
-
A man who committed a
burglary was found to have a spring-loaded air weapon in his caravan in
Mile Cross (Norfolk)
- he was jailed for two years and nine months.
-
A man who had an air
rifle at his home in
Sunderland whilst prohibited was given a suspended 36 week
prison sentence with supervision and programme requirements.
-
A man from Neath who
admitted drug offences pleaded guilty to unrelated firearms offences
involving the unlawful possession of three airguns. A man caught with an
airgun, cannabis and drug paraphernalia in a car in Sible Hedingham
(Essex) has been given a suspended 16-week prison sentence for each of two
offences.
-
A man caught with an
air pistol in his van in Turnford (Hertfordshire) has been given a
12-month community order. A man from Lymm (Cheshire) who had an air
pistol in his pocket as he stood outside another man's home with a
chainsaw running was given 80 hours community service. Another man who
pleaded guilty to having a loaded air weapon in a public place in
Sprowston (Norfolk) was given a 12 months community order.
-
A man who showed off an
air pistol at a party in
Colchester (Essex)
pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm in a public place and
was given a suspended 28-week prison sentence and a supervision order.
-
A woman who disposed of
an air rifle for her boyfriend after he brandished it in the street in
Trowbridge (Wiltshire) was given a two year conditional discharge after
pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice - firearms charges
against her boyfriend were dropped.
-
A man who walked into a
police station in Southend (Essex) with a toy gun has been ordered to seek
mental health treatment after pleading guilty to possession of an
imitation weapon with intent. Another man who took a toy gun into a
hospital in Whitehaven (Cumbria) admitted threatening behaviour and was
conditionally discharged for 6 months.
-
A 14-year-old was
cautioned after being caught with a replica gun in Ordsall (Greater
Manchester). Another 14-year-old caught waving a BB gun in a street in
Preston (Lancashire) has pleaded guilty.
-
A man has admitted
possession of a BB gun in a public place and possession of an air rifle in
Brynmawr (Gwent).
NOVEMBER 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were two
fatal shooting incidents during November.
Both victims were male, one shot dead in a street in Kennington (south
London) and the other at a nightclub in Bilston (West Midlands) (another
person was shot and injured, three men
have been held in connection with this murder).
-
Fifteen other victims were
injured in
shooting attacks in:
-
Greater Manchester (1) - a man
was shot four times in the legs in an attack at a house in
Bury (four men have been arrested)
-
London (3) - two people, one
aged 15, were injured in separate shootings in De Beauvoir,
and a man was shot when his motorbike was stolen at his home
in Kingsbury
-
Merseyside (3) - a man was shot
in the back in Fazakerley, another victim was shot in the leg
in Tuebrook, and a man was injured in a shotgun attack in Belle Vale
-
Nottinghamshire (2) - a man was
shot in the leg in Rise Park, and another received injuries to his
legs, buttocks and lower back in a probable shotgun attack in
Highbury Vale
-
Scotland (1) - a man was shot in
the leg in a drive-by shooting in Uplawmoor (East
Renfrewshire)
-
South Yorkshire (1) - a man was
shot in the head in Wombwell (eight people were arrested and
bailed and one man has been charged with grievous bodily harm
with intent)
-
West Midlands (1) - a man was
shot and injured in the double shooting in Bilston which
resulted in one fatality (see above)
-
West Yorkshire (3) - three men
were shot in two separate incidents in Bradford, one at a
nightclub involving a shotgun (one man has been arrested) and
the other outside a curry house
-
A man armed with a BB
gun was injured in the arm
when he was shot by a police marksman in a supermarket
in Canterbury (Kent) - he has since been charged with the
murder of a woman who was found strangled and with
possessing a gun with intent to cause fear of violence.
-
Two men were injured during an
organised shoot near Dunning (Perthshire) when a shotgun was
accidentally discharged.
-
At least Seven
other people, including three teenagers, were
injured in shootings with BB guns or airguns:
-
Cambridgeshire - a man was shot
with an air rifle whilst walking along a street in Easton
Socon
-
Gloucestershire - a 13-year-old
boy was shot twice in Cheltenham with a BB gun (two other
teenagers were arrested)
-
Merseyside - a man was shot in
the stomach with an air pistol in Southport
-
Norfolk - an elderly woman was
shot in the head with an airgun at a car boot sale at
Costessey - two men, believed to be a stallholder and a
would-be purchaser, were arrested
-
Somerset - a 13-year-old boy was
hit in the leg with what was believed to be a BB gun pellet
in Clevedon
-
South Yorkshire - a taxi driver
was shot with an airgun in his cab in Highfield (Sheffield)
-
Wales - an 18-year-old girl was
shot with a pellet gun on a fairground ride in Llan Ffestiniog
(Gwynedd)
-
A man from Invergowrie (Angus)
has appeared in court to face allegations that he repeatedly
shot his wife and two children with a BB gun over a period of
three years.
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - As Gun Control Network
has frequently highlighted many of the weapons used
in these crimes are likely to be imitations, as is often apparent
from the subsequent charges (see below). Although many
weapons are described as handguns this can be solely on the basis of their appearance and many
of them will be a blank-firing pistols, a BB guns or
air pistols.
-
There were robberies and
attempted robberies allegedly involving guns at an
Amusement Arcade in Walton (Essex) (two men were armed
with a shotgun); Banks and
Post Offices in Southport (Merseyside) (a man has admitted
this robbery, in which an imitation firearm was used, and a
number of other robberies at banks from nine years ago), Tring
(Hertfordshire) (toy gun), Preston (Lancashire) (handgun),
Uddingston (North Lanarkshire) and Manningham (Bradford)
(handgun); Bookmakers in Woodside (Glasgow), Gossops
Green (Sussex) (imitation revolver), Northampton (shotgun),
Bradford (handgun), Worthing (West Sussex) (pistol),
Blakenhall (West Midlands) (revolver) and Slough (Berkshire); Offices
in Burnage (Manchester) and Gloucester;
Pubs and Restaurants in Brixton and Clapham (south London)
(the raids are believed to be linked), Gravesend (Kent)
(handgun), Braintree (Essex) (handgun) and Liverpool; Shops
in Bishop's Cleeve (Gloucestershire), Hamilton (Lanarkshire)
(one man might have been responsible for two robberies),
Lockwood (West Yorkshire) (a 15-year-old has been arrested),
Fairweather Green (Bradford) (handgun), Tooting and Streatham
(both in south London), Lees (Greater Manchester) (handgun)
and Westy (Cheshire) (handgun); a Travel Agents in Muswell
Hill (north London).
-
In two House Robberies in
Greater Manchester four masked men armed with a stun gun,
knife and axe stole items from a home in Blackley and another
gang handcuffed and threatened a couple in Salford (eight
people have been arrested).
-
A Security Man was robbed
of a cash box at gunpoint in Stanford-le-Hope (Essex)
-
A gunman stole a Motorbike at
the home of its owner in Kingsbury (north west London) - the
victim was shot in the leg (see above).
-
A Van was stopped near
Heathrow Airport (London) and
stolen by a gang of armed robbers armed with a stun gun - the van was found
abandoned and its contents taken.
-
In two Street Robberies, a
man had his laptop stolen by a man armed with a ball-bearing
gun at a bus stop in Long Eaton (Derbyshire), and a couple
were robbed at gunpoint whilst walking to a dance class in
Quarry Bank (West Midlands).
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired during a number of
other incidents:
-
Bristol - two shots were fired
from a shotgun during a raid on a building in Bishopsworth
(Bristol) (a man was arrested)
-
County Durham - shots were fired
at a house and a car with a shotgun in Consett (two men have
been arrested)
-
Lincolnshire - a firearm was
discharged during an armed break-in in Grimsby (four men have
been charged with aggravated burglary and possessing a firearm
with intent to endanger life)
-
Merseyside - windows of a house
were shot out in West Derby, shots were fired in a street in
Huyton (a man has been charged with possessing an illegal
firearm and ammunition), homes were shot at in Page Moss, and a
car was damaged by shots fired from another vehicle at a busy
road junction
-
London - shots were fired at a
shop in Finsbury Park, a café in Holloway, outside a pub in
Hackney, and from a car in Lower Clapton
-
Shropshire - a firearm was
discharged during an incident in Hollinswood (Telford) (three
men were being questioned on suspicion of conspiracy to commit
murder)
-
A man has been accused of
possessing a shotgun at his home in Weston-super-Mare, with
intent to cause a debt collector violence.
-
A youth pointed a handgun at an
11-year-old boy in Southsea (Hampshire). Two men were arrested in
Bideford (Devon) after police received reports that two men
had been threatened with a gun.
-
A man has been charged with
possession of an illegal firearm after a gun was thrown from a
car in Scarisbrick (Merseyside).
-
A man from Blackwood (Gwent) has
been charged with possessing an improvised muzzle-loading gun
as well as explosive materials and a terrorist document.
-
There were also incidents
in which a gun was reported but no weapon found:
-
A college in Enfield (north
London) was evacuated and five people arrested after a student
was reported to have a gun
-
A man was arrested after armed
police surrounded a flat in Ross-on-Wye (Herefordshire)
-
A gun is alleged to have been
produced during a brawl at an amateur football match in Speke
(Liverpool)
-
A man who claimed to have
firearms was arrested at a house in Millfield (Peterborough)
-
A stun gun was found at the
scene of a disturbance in East Ham (east London).
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - Besides those incidents which
resulted in injury (see above) there were further incidents involving airguns and
imitation weapons. As noted above they were probably used in many of the armed robberies,
and this was certainly so for those reported from Southport (Merseyside),
Long Eaton (Derbyshire) and Gossops Green (Sussex). Four
men have been charged with conspiracy to rob, possession of an
imitation firearm in a public place, possession of a
prohibited weapon (a stun gun) and possession of an imitation
firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence after an
incident in Hadleigh (Essex). A man was charged with two
counts of having an imitation firearm with intention to commit
crime following robberies at a petrol station and bookmakers
in Bedford in October.
-
Guns were fired at vehicles
in the following incidents:
-
a car was peppered with air
weapon pellets in Ulverston (Cumbria)
-
a number of vehicles were
targeted around Haughley (Suffolk) with a paintball gun
-
a bus was hit and three windows
shattered in Lincoln when it was attacked with a gas-powered
BB gun
-
a taxi was shot with an air
rifle as the driver dropped off a fare in Stannington
(Sheffield)
-
The following
were damaged probably by shots fired from airguns:
-
a pub window in Eye
(Cambridgeshire) - there has been
other damage in the locality
-
a window at a pensioner's house
in Oldham (Lancashire)
-
windows at a library in Winsford
(Cheshire)
-
windows and outside lights in
Rastrick (West Yorkshire)
-
Two people were threatened with
a gun, reported to have been an airgun, at their home in
Hatfield (Hertfordshire) (a man has been arrested). A
man from Milford Haven (Pembrokeshire) has been charged with
possession of an imitation firearm - he is alleged to have
assaulted a woman and caused her to believe that unlawful
violence would be used against another.
-
It has been reported that youths
have used a ball-bearing gun to fire at younger children in
Wyke (West Yorkshire). A group of youths threatened to
shoot an ambulance crew with BB guns whilst they were
responding to a call in Bolton (Lancashire).
-
A man armed with an air rifle
chased youths who were throwing eggs at passing cars in
Stourport (Worcestershire). A man brandishing a suspected
imitation firearm chased another man through streets in
Stamford Hill (north London).
-
Two men were arrested on
suspicion of being in possession of an imitation firearm after
they were allegedly seen with a gun in Leeds. A man
was charged with possession of an imitation firearm after
being seen with a handgun in Grantham (Lincolnshire).
-
One of two men arrested
following a shotgun attack in Consett (County Durham) (see
above) has been
charged with two other offences after an air weapon was found
at his home.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Guns were found during
searches in which drugs were also recovered in Kearsley
(Lancashire) (a sawn-off shotgun and a handgun) (a man and a
woman were arrested), Pennywell and South Hylton (Sunderland)
(two air weapons) (two women and a man were arrested), West
Norfolk (a man was charged with possession of a shotgun
without a licence), Warrington (Cheshire) (a stun gun), various
addresses in Lancashire (imitation firearm), Halton Moor
(Leeds) (a number of air weapons and shotgun cartridges),
Manningham (Bradford) (a handgun), and various addresses on
Merseyside (a shotgun).
-
Merseyside Police reported
recovering 8 handguns, 5 shotguns and 1 rifle plus many rounds
of ammunition during the last month in Norris Green, Croxteth
and Huyton. A gun was among items confiscated by police
investigating counterfeiting at a market in Hull. A
decommission AK47 rifle was found by police during raids in
Bradford (a man was arrested).
-
Customs officials found eight
handguns and 200 rounds of ammunition in a
lorry arriving at Dover (Kent) (a man has been charged with
attempted smuggling).
-
A gun and ammunition were
discovered by a member of the public in Knightswood (Glasgow).
-
There were thefts of guns
reported from Annan (Dumfriesshire) (shotguns and ammunition), Hayling
Island (Hampshire) (a replica assault rifle), Hadlow Down
(Sussex) (2 shotguns, 2 air rifles), Streatham (south London)
(a licensed shotgun was taken after its owner left it on his
garden wall and was not aware of its loss for 7 hours), Penarth (South Glamorgan) (an air rifle),
and Beechingstoke
(Wiltshire) (a shotgun).
-
A man has been accused of
stealing shotguns and other items from a property in
Chesterfield (Derbyshire) earlier this year.
-
Incidents Involving Animals - More cats were the
target of airgun attacks reported during November.
These occurred in Bristol (two cats have been shot), Cheshire,
County Durham, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Essex, Herefordshire,
Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Nottingham, Plymouth, and Surrey.
Another cat from Walsall (West Midlands) was shot twice with a
pellet gun.
-
Two swans died after
being shot with airgun pellets at a country park in Sunderland
and another swan was shot dead at a nature reserve at Beighton
Marsh (Sheffield).
-
Two men could be facing jail for
shooting nine protected kittiwakes with an air rifle at
Marsden (Tyne & Wear) - they pleaded guilty to the intentional
killing of wild birds.
-
Convictions - A man was given a minimum twenty year
sentence after being found guilty of murdering a woman in Bury
St Edmonds (Suffolk) by shooting her with a bolt gun.
Bolt guns are used for the routine stunning of livestock and
are no longer subject to firearms legislation. The
offender worked in a slaughterhouse.
-
A man convicted of a fatal
shooting in East Ham in 2001 will serve a minimum of 33
years.
-
Two men, one a teenager, whose
victim was shot four times in Wolverhampton, were found guilty
of attempted murder (sentencing was adjourned).
-
Two teenagers were sent to a young
offenders' institute for 4½ and 3½ years for being part of a gang
who attacked and shot a man in Croxteth (Liverpool).
-
A man who injured two people
with a reactivated pistol in a shooting in Huddersfield (West
Yorkshire) has admitted two offences of unlawful wounding and
possessing a gun and ammunition with intent to cause fear of
violence and has been told he will face many years behind bars.
-
A father and son have pleaded guilty to
conspiring to kidnap after they took a woman and her child
hostage for 24 hours - they were reported to have been armed
with a handgun and at least two shotguns when they broke into
the victims' house in Skipton (North Yorkshire).
-
A man has pleaded guilty to an
armed robbery at a service station in St Albans
(Hertfordshire) in which he used a gun. Two men who
committed a string of robberies including one on a bookmakers
in Gipsy Hill (south London) in which staff believed they had
a gun have been jailed for 11 years and 10 years 6 months.
-
A gang of men have been
convicted of drug and firearms offences - an arsenal of
weapons had been found at a flat belonging to one of them in
Highridge Green (Bristol).
-
A teenager caught with a firearm
and ammunition whilst dealing drugs in Stonebridge Estate
(north west London) has been found guilty of firearms and drug
offences. A man from Hayling Island
(Hampshire) found with a gun, CS gas and cocaine has been
jailed for six years for various drug offences and two counts
of possession of a firearm.
-
A man caught with a loaded gun
at a railway station in Abbey Wood (south east London) was
found guilty of possessing a firearm with ammunition with
intent to endanger life and jailed for 9 years.
-
A man from north west London who
persuaded a woman to stash two loaded guns failed in his
appeal to reduce his 7 year sentence for possession of a
prohibited firearm and two counts of possessing ammunition
without a certificate.
-
A man who tried to sell a loaded gun which
looked like a pen in Rusholme (Greater Manchester) pleaded
guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition and was jailed
for 5 years. Two men seen to exchange a bag containing a
gun in Small Heath (Birmingham) were jailed for 6½ and 6 years
after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon, a
silencer and ammunition.
-
A man who manufactured homemade
guns and made and stockpiled nail and ball bearing bombs at
his home in Batley (West Yorkshire) has admitted a number of
offences including three counts of manufacturing prohibited
weapons, four counts of possession of prohibited weapons and
one of possession of ammunition without certificate - he is
awaiting sentence.
-
A man was jailed for 4½ years
after being found guilty of possessing an illegal gun at his
home in High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire). Two men, one
aged 17, who held guns for a drugs gang in Kensington
(Liverpool) were given 8 and 3 year sentences. An
ex-police officer from Pocklington (East Yorkshire) has
admitted conspiracy to launder money and possession of a
weapon (a semi-automatic pistol) and ammunition.
-
A man who had a rifle without a
certificate at his home in Bristol and had tried to purchase a
stun gun from the USA has been given an 8 month sentence and a
150 hour community work order.
-
A number of men have been
sentenced or are awaiting sentencing for offences involving
shotguns:
-
Two men involved with a gang who raided a
bank in Wigan (Lancashire) in which the raiders were armed
with shotguns have been jailed.
-
A man
who threatened a shopkeeper in Gateshead (Tyneside) with a
sawn-off shotgun during an attempted robbery has been found guilty.
-
A teenager who shot at parked
vehicles in Lostwithiel (Cornwall) with a shotgun has been
sent to a young offenders' institution for 16 months.
-
Two men have been jailed for 15
and 12 years for a robbery at the home of a couple in Rugby
and possession of a firearm.
-
A man found with a shotgun
hidden in a wardrobe at his parents' home in Wigan
(Lancashire) has been jailed for 2 years.
-
A man from Hemel Hempstead
(Hertfordshire) who was caught in a police drugs operation has
been jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to a drug
offences and possessing a shotgun without a certificate.
-
A man has admitted possessing a
pump action, smooth bore shotgun with a short barrel found on
a boat in anchored at Brixham (Devon).
-
A man admitted possessing a
shotgun without a licence and drugs offences after a raid in
Middlesbrough.
-
A man from Leeds who admitted a
number of offences including selling a shotgun has been jailed
for 8 years.
-
A man who was jailed for 5 years
after a shotgun had been found in his bedsit in Penrith
(Cumbria) has failed to have his sentence cut on appeal.
-
A man found with a broken down
shotgun and revolver at his home in St Ann's (Nottingham) was
jailed for 5 years for drug offences and storing firearms.
-
An ex-soldier who found a
sawn-off shotgun in a bin liner in his garden in Merstham
(Surrey) and then handed it to the police was found guilty of
possessing a firearm - the jury was told that his apparently
honest intent was irrelevant.
-
A man who stole shotguns from a house in Shefford
(Bedfordshire) pleaded guilty to two burglaries and asked for
14 similar offences to be taken into consideration and was
jailed for a total of 4 years and 9 months.
-
A man who threatened to get a
shotgun and shoot people in Harleston (Norfolk) has admitted
threatening behaviour and other offences including handling a
stolen air rifle and been given a suspended 12 month prison
sentence and a 12 month supervision order. A man who
threatened to buy a gun and shoot three members of the
community council in Selkirk has been jailed for 16 months for
breach of the peace.
-
A man who twice broke into the
same house in Willersley (Herefordshire) and stole ammunition
and an antique gun has been given a 12-month suspended jail
sentence and was ordered to pay compensation to the owner.
-
The following cases involved
stun guns:
-
A man from Torquay has pleaded
guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon (a non-working stun
gun in the form of a torch) and possessing drugs and was given
a 12-month community order
-
A man and a woman were given 5½
years in jail and a 12 month suspended sentence for drug
offences and possessing a prohibited weapon at their home in
Hartlepool
-
A woman found with drugs and a
stun gun at her home in Clayton-le-Moors (Lancashire) has been
jailed for four years
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases)
-
A man who admitted possessing an air rifle with intent to
cause fear of violence after he pointed it at two men in
Grimsby was jailed for 70 weeks.
-
Two men who wielded an imitation
firearm to help kidnap a student in Loughborough
(Leicestershire) has failed to have their sentences of 11 and
11½ years reduced on appeal.
-
A man who brandished a
blank-firing revolver in a nightclub in Southport (Merseyside)
was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment after pleading guilty. Another
offender who brandished a replica
gun at a fast food outlet in St Budeaux (Plymouth) has been
banned from every takeaway in the city and put under curfew.
-
A man has admitted affray and
possession of a firearm without a certificate after an
incident in Blyth (Nottinghamshire) following which the police
found four air weapons which needed certificates at the
man's home in Harworth - he was given a suspended 6 month
prison sentence.
-
A man seen with an air rifle
when he barricaded himself inside his home in Blackpool
(Lancashire) has admitted affray and given a suspended 8 month
prison sentence and 18 months supervision.
-
A man who confronted two youths
with an airsoft replica rifle in a street in Blackhall
(Edinburgh) has admitted having a firearm in his possession
and been fined £367.
A teenager was found guilty of two counts of ABH following
incidents at a camp near Strangways (Wiltshire) in which a
replica assault rifle was fired and two other teenagers were
shot, although the jury failed to reach a verdict on a
firearms charge - he was jailed for 2½ years.
-
A teenager from Scarborough
(North Yorkshire) who sold an imitation firearm to undercover
police and explained how to modify it to fire live ammunition
has been sent to a young offenders' institution for 8 months.
-
A man jailed for 10 years and 8
months for blackmail, possession of an imitation firearm and
possession of a heroin with intent to supply who went to his
victim's home in Whitehaven (Cumbria) with a gun has failed to
have his sentence reduced.
-
There were a number of
convictions for robberies and attempted robberies in which the
offenders were armed with imitation firearms, including
airguns:
-
A man was jailed for 9 years
after pleading guilty to conspiracy to rob and possession of
an imitation firearm with intent after carrying out a string
of robberies in Dorset and Surrey
-
Banks - a man was
jailed for 7 years and 9 months after attempting to rob a bank
in Redcar (Teesside) whilst armed with a toy handgun; another
man who carried out a robbery at a bank in Southport
(Merseyside) armed with an imitation firearm has also admitted
a number of previous robberies and attempted robberies at
banks
-
Bookmakers - a man found to
have an air pistol and a gas-powered ball bearing gun has
admitted robbery at a bookies in Leeds and possessing an
imitation handgun and been jailed for 4 years; a man was
jailed for 6 years after holding up a bookmakers in Cambridge
with an imitation pistol
-
Shops and Post Offices - a
man who was armed with a BB gun has been jailed for 2 years
for a robbery in Inverness; two men who forced another man to carry out a
robbery with an imitation pistol in Meir Heath (Staffordshire)
had their sentences increased on appeal, the robber's sentence
was unchanged at 18 months.
-
Music
Festival - an
18-year-old has admitted robbery and possessing a firearm with
intent to cause violence after threatening a woman with an
airgun and stealing her handbag near Silloth (Cumbria)
-
Streets - a
13-year-old boy who pointed a ball-bearing gun in the face of
a man in Derby has been given an 8-month detention and
training order after pleading guilty to two counts of robbery
and one count of theft, witness intimidation and possession of
an imitation firearm with intent; a 15-year-old from
Whyteleafe (Surrey) who shoved an air pistol in his victim's
face during a robbery has been given a 12 month detention and
training order; a man who used a ball-bearing gun when he
attempted to rob a man in Chapel St Leonards (Lincolnshire)
has admitted attempted robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm and been jailed for 5 years; an 18-year-old armed with a BB gun who held up a taxi
driver in Hartlepool has admitted robbery and possessing an
imitation firearm and been sent to a young offenders'
institution for 3 years
-
Two men who fired an air rifle
in a garden in Clitheroe (Lancashire) and damaged neighbouring
property have been fined £50 each and one was ordered to pay
compensation.
-
A man who took a loaded air
rifle into woods in Weston-super-Mare (Somerset) has been
given a 12 months community order and must complete 100 hours
of unpaid work.
-
A man who was banned from
possessing a firearm as a result of a previous conviction but
was found with an air rifle at his home in Hemlington
(Teesside) was given a 52 week suspended jail sentence with
supervision and a Thinking Skills programme.
-
A man who tried to take an air
pistol on a plane at Edinburgh Airport has been fined £1,000.
-
Two men who simulated a drive-by
shooting by driving around Burgess Hill (West Sussex) with
part of a pressure washer sticking out of the window like a
rifle have admitted a charge of affray - they now face a jail
sentence.
DECEMBER 2009
>
Click here for pdf version (includes full
list of incidents)
Gun Deaths in 2009
-
On the basis of the media reports seen by
GCN there were 44 gun homicides in Great Britain in 2009, one of which
involved a bolt gun which is no longer subject to firearms legislation.
The total is two greater than in 2008 but remains significantly lower than for
most years during the previous two decades.
-
Seventeen of the gun victims died in London,
5 in Greater Manchester, 3 in each of South Yorkshire, the West Midlands
and West Yorkshire and 2 in Hampshire (a domestic double shooting). Despite a number of shooting incidents
in Merseyside that
resulted in injury there was only one gun homicide which occurred in January. The only gun homicide in Scotland during 2009 was
also in January. There was a single gun homicide in each of Bedfordshire,
Derbyshire, Devon, Essex, the Isle of Wight, Kent,
Nottinghamshire, Suffolk and Worcestershire.
-
Seven of the victims were female. Five
women were shot by their partner
or ex-partner and
a young girl was shot by her father who also killed her mother.
Four of the men killed themselves. The other woman was shot with a bolt gun by a man who
had stalked her. In a seventh domestic incident a man was reportedly shot dead by his wife.
-
Two
of the fatalities occurred during armed robberies – in Worcestershire in
January and in Greater Manchester in December.
-
The youngest victim was a 4-year-old girl, shot by her father, and there were four victims aged between 16
and 20. Half of the victims (22 of the 44) were males in
their twenties. Of the six victims aged 50 or over, four were killed
in domestic shootings, three women and one man.
-
Two men were shot dead by armed police
officers in County Durham and Sussex, both incidents occurring in May
after shots were reported to have been fired with a crossbow and a handgun
during the respective incidents.
-
Air weapons killed four more people in 2009.
Three boys aged 5, 10 and 15 died after being shot in incidents described
as accidents. One woman shot herself with an air rifle.
December 2009 Incidents
Three of the domestic shootings described
above took place during December and resulted in the deaths of three women and a child.
The one other homicide victim was a man who was shot
dead during a robbery. Overall, however, there were fewer incidents
reported this month that resulted in gunshot injuries, although
the incidence of robberies involving guns appeared to have increased.
-
Gun Deaths and Injuries -
There were nine shooting fatalities during December,
six of them occurring in domestic incidents in which four
female victims died, one of them a child.
Five of the deaths were probable homicides:
-
A man died after being shot
during a robbery in Longsight (Manchester) - a number of men
were arrested.
-
Two women were shot dead in
Brabourne Leas (Kent) and Rochford (Essex), apparently
by their husbands who used shotguns and then
apparently committed suicide, one by shooting himself and
the other by drowning.
-
In another murder-suicide in
Aldershot (Hampshire) a woman and her 4-year-old daughter were
killed by her ex-partner who was also the child's father - the
man shot himself with what is believed to have been a handgun.
-
There were two other probable
suicides involving firearms, one near Eastbourne (East Sussex) and the other in
Cricklade (Wiltshire).
-
Inquests into the deaths earlier
this year of two other men who died from shotgun wounds
concluded that their injuries were self-inflicted - an open verdict
was recorded for a man found dead in Dorchester (Dorset),
suicide in the case of a man found in Wootton (Lincolnshire).
Another inquest heard how a man had taken his own life at a
farm in Whitestone (Devon) using a bolt gun.
-
Ten other victims were
injured in shooting attacks:
-
Cambridgeshire (1) - a man was
injured in a shotgun attack at a nightclub in St Neots (a man
has been charged with attempted murder and possession of a
firearm with intent to cause an offence)
-
Kent (1) - a man
was critically injured after a hit-and-run incident in Maidstone
which left another man dead - the injured man was hit by
the vehicle but also suffered gunshot wounds (a woman has been
charged with murder and two other men arrested)
-
London (4) - two men were shot
in a shotgun attack in Ladbroke Grove, a man was badly injured
when he was shot at a nightclub in Farringdon, and a man who
entered hospital with a wound to the shoulder is
believed to have been shot in Walthamstow
-
Merseyside (1) - a man was shot
in the leg after being approached by two men in a street in
Huyton
-
Suffolk (1) - a man was shot at
a club in Ipswich, probably with a handgun
-
West Midlands (2) - a man and a
woman were injured in a double shooting in Wood End (Coventry)
-
Five people were
injured in airgun shootings:
-
a railway repair man was hit in
the wrist when shots were fired at a group of workers in Middleton
(West Yorkshire)
-
a man was apparently shot in
Ellacombe (Devon)
-
two men were shot in Greater
Manchester, one as he was collecting money for
charity in a street in Cadishead and the other as he used a
cash machine in Whalley Range, where a man was later arrested
-
a resident was shot when he went
to investigate someone firing an air weapon in a street in
Workington (Cumbria)
-
Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - A man was fatally injured
during a robbery outside a money exchange firm in Longsight
(Manchester) (see above).
-
This month there was a
spate of armed robberies and attempted robberies allegedly
involving guns, particularly at bookmakers and shops.
It seems likely that many of the weapons, especially those
described as handguns, were imitations. The incidents occurred at:
-
Banks, Building Societies
and Post Offices in Balham (south London), Cheadle
(Cheshire) (involving a sawn-off shotgun), Islington Green
(north London) (the man responsible is believed to have raided
a number of other banks in London and Essex since September;
no weapon has been seen), Northampton (handgun; a man has been
questioned about this and two other robberies in
Northampton and Wellingborough), Rayleigh (Essex) and Smethwick (West Midlands)
(no weapon seen)
-
Bookmakers
in Bothwell
(South Lanarkshire), Burnham (Berkshire) (handgun), Leeds
(handgun), Slough (Berkshire) (two separate premises; one
involved a handgun), Sunderland (handgun), Swindon (Wiltshire)
(two separate premises; after the first raid three men were
charged with conspiracy to steal and possessing an imitation
firearm; a handgun was seen in the second raid), Walker
(Tyneside) (handgun) and Wigan (two separate premises; handgun
reported in one of the raids)
-
Cafés and Restaurants in
the Bluewater shopping centre (Kent), Colchester (Essex) (a man who was armed with an airgun was
charged) and Knott End (Lancashire) (handgun)
-
Car Dealership in
Dunston (Tyneside) (handgun)
-
Offices in Leamington
Spa (Warwickshire) (handgun) and Moortown
(Leeds) (handgun)
-
Petrol Stations in
Eastleigh (Hampshire), Fenay Bridge (West Yorkshire), Hebburn (Tyneside) (handgun)
and Worthing (West Sussex) (a shot was fired)
-
Shops in
Canvey (Essex) (handgun), Clydebank (West Dunbartonshire),
Duston (Northampton) (handgun), Kidsgrove (Staffordshire)
(shotgun, hammer) (two people have been arrested), Liverpool,
Llysfaen (North Wales) (handgun, knife), Milton Keynes (a blank-firing gun was fired), Monsall
(Manchester) (shotgun, pistol and machetes), Tantobie
(County Durham) (handgun), Tooting (south London), Walsall
(handgun, crowbar), Wigan (sawn-off shotgun), Wolverhampton
and Worthing (West Sussex) (believed to have involved a BB
gun). A shotgun may also have been used to break a window during a
robbery at a jewellers in Birkenhead (The Wirral)
-
Warehouse in Philadelphia
(County Durham) (handgun, metal bar).
-
There were armed robberies at Homes in
Bournemouth (Dorset) (two different properties), Chorlton
(Greater Manchester) (there were a number of incidents in the
area - a 15-year-old has been arrested), Kirby (Merseyside) (a
car was stolen), Pickmere (Cheshire) (three men armed with a sawn-off
shotgun and a handgun) and Portslade (East Sussex) (the weapon
was a BB gun and a man was arrested)
-
A pensioner who was visiting a
Hospital in Liverpool was attacked by a man believed to be
carrying a gun who demanded money.
-
There was an attempted robbery
during a cash delivery at a Bus Depot in Wigan (one man was
hit on the head with a shotgun, two men were later arrested). A
Delivery Van driver was robbed in Newcastle upon Tyne and a
Bus Driver in Billingham (Teesside). A man has been accused of a
firearms offence and making off without payment following an
incident in which a Taxi Driver was allegedly threatened with
a gun in Consett (County Durham).
-
A man was dragged off the street
and into a car at gunpoint in West Hampstead (north west London) and forced to withdraw money from two cash machines.
-
Other Incidents - Shots were fired during a number of
other incidents:
-
Cheshire - the windows of a
family's car were smashed by an apparent shot fired in
Warrington
-
Greater Manchester - shots were
fired and a bullet casing found in Whalley Range.
-
London - a man on a motorcycle
fired at a group of people outside a club in Finsbury, and a
shot was fired during an incident in Norwood in which a man
had his ear bitten
-
Merseyside - A shot was fired at
a property in Croxteth, two cars were found damaged in Norris
Green after residents reported hearing gunshots and shots were
heard in a street in Belle Vale (a man was arrested)
-
West Midlands - two windows were
smashed at separate premises in Coventry
-
West Yorkshire - shots, believed
to come from a shotgun, were fired from a vehicle in Manningham
(Bradford) damaging parked vehicles
-
Worcestershire - A firearm was
discharged in Redditch - one man has been arrested
-
A man from Yarmouth (Isle of
Wight) has been accused of threatening to shoot his elder
daughter with a shotgun.
-
Two men were arrested on
suspicion of assault and having a shotgun and baseball bat
after police found a man with the weapons at a car crash in
Basildon (Essex).
-
After a second incident in a
hospital this month (see Armed Robberies above) a man was
arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to
cause fear of violence - he was seen with a rifle at a
hospital in Crumpsall (Greater Manchester).
-
A number of other people were
charged with possession of firearms:
-
Two men from south London
appeared in court charged with possession of three firearms,
possession of a handgun with intent to endanger life and
possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence
-
Four teenagers have been charged
with possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to
endanger life after a firearm was discovered in a vehicle in
Kensington (Liverpool)
-
A man was charged with
possessing a firearm after being arrested outside the home of
ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair in central London
-
Three men were arrested and a
loaded revolver was seized in a police operation in Tottenham
Hale (north London)
-
Following a number of incidents,
including one in which a gun was said to have been displayed, a
pub in Easton (Bristol) was shut down.
-
There were other incidents in
which guns were reported to have been seen but no firearms were
recovered:
-
Police found a cannabis factory
in Addiscombe (south London) after a gun was reported to have
been seen there (one man was arrested).
-
A man gave himself up after a
siege at a property in Blackpool (Lancashire).
-
Streets in Newton Abbot (Devon)
and Bishopbriggs (East Dunbartonshire) were closed after
reports of men being seen with a firearm.
-
Firefighters had to deal with
exploding ammunition when a fire at a house in Carsluith
(Wigtownshire) penetrated a metal gun cabinet.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns - Besides those incidents which
resulted in injury (see above) the following also involved airguns and imitation weapons.
-
Shots were fired from an airgun at a vehicle in Halifax (West
Yorkshire) causing damage to the windscreen.
-
A man faced charges after he
allegedly threatened to shoot police officers with an air
rifle in Castlebay (Outer Hebrides). Another man was charged
after a police officer was threatened with a blank-firing
pistol in Trafford (Greater Manchester).
-
Staff at a kebab van in
Otterbourne (Hampshire) were threatened with an air rifle.
-
Much of the village of Abbots
Bromley (Staffordshire) was brought to a halt after reports of
a man waving a gun later found to be an imitation handgun -
three juveniles were arrested. In another incident which
caused an armed police response two teenagers pointed a BB gun
out of a window in Hastings (East Sussex) - they were arrested
on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm in a public
place.
-
Imitation guns and airguns were probably used in many of the
Armed Robberies
(see above) and this was so for robberies from
Colchester (Essex), Portslade (East Sussex), Milton Keynes, Swindon
(Wiltshire) and Worthing (West Sussex)
-
Windows were damaged, probably
by shots fired from airguns in incidents in Minera (Clywd) (at
a church), South Shields (Tyneside) (at the home of an elderly
couple) and Winsford (Cheshire).
-
A pupil accused of shooting a
fellow student with a ball-bearing gun at a school in Kerry
(Powys) has had to be invited back to school after police dismissed
the case for lack of evidence.
-
Guns Recoveries and Thefts - Guns were found during
searches in which drugs were recovered in Swansea (an airgun),
northern Scotland (a replica handgun) and Port Glasgow
(Renfrewshire) (a revolver).
-
In other police raids guns were
recovered in Gravesend (a shotgun), Leeds (an M-16 assault
rifle - three people were arrested), Leicestershire (in Hinckley
and Bosworth; air rifles and an imitation firearm) and Manchester (two
blank-firing handguns).
-
A number of air weapons,
including a replica AK47 rifle, were taken from a parked car
in Dalkeith (Midlothian), a thief stole a pick-up truck
containing shotgun cartridges and jewellery in Kirby Muxloe
(Leicestershire), shotguns were among items taken from two
farms in Cambridgeshire and two air rifles were among goods
stolen from a farm in Kington (Worcestershire).
-
Incidents Involving Animals - Compared with recent months
there were fewer incidents
involving animals and birds reported during December. A number of cats were, however, targeted with
airguns and pellet guns in London (in Newham, Putney and South
Tottenham), one cat was injured in Warrington (Cheshire) and
two cats were shot in an airgun attack in Kirkcaldy (Fife).
-
Five men were arrested and a
number of guns seized during a crackdown on poaching in
Sussex. Three men were arrested on suspicion of poaching
when a routine police patrol in Penkridge (Staffordshire)
stopped their van which was found to contain three dead deer
and a modified air rifle.
-
A red kite was shot and injured
near Braco (Perthshire). A heron was shot and badly
injured by two airgun pellets in Haversham (Buckinghamshire).
-
Convictions - Three men were convicted of the fatal
shooting of a man and the attempted murder of his father
during a robbery at a post office in Fairfield
(Worcestershire) - all three were sentenced to a minimum of 34 years.
-
A man found guilty of murdering
a man who was shot dead in Newtown (Birmingham)
will serve a minimum of 25 years.
-
Two men were each sentenced to 35 years in
jail after an attack in New Cross (south London) in which a
teenager was run down and then shot with a shotgun and stabbed
- the victim remains in a coma.
-
A man has admitted a shooting at
a pub in Greenwich (south east London) in which two people
were injured - he pleaded guilty to a number of charges
including two counts of wounding with intent. A
man from Forest Gate (east London) who shot off his victim's
thumb when he
opened fire with a shotgun has been convicted of
attempted murder, assault and possessing a firearm with intent
to endanger life. Another man who shot a rival outside a
restaurant in Wolverhampton was jailed for 12 years and his
accomplice for 6 years.
-
A man who shot at two men in
Coventry has been found guilty of
their attempted murder and been jailed for 11 years.
-
Three men have been found guilty
for their part in the torture, robbery and rape of a couple in
Clapham (south London) during which a gun was held to a
woman's head - two of the men have each been jailed for 9
years, the other will be sentenced later.
-
A man who forced two officers
from their police van at gunpoint in Peterborough and then hijacked
another vehicle was given a 14 year sentence after pleading
guilty to eight charges.
-
A teenager who held a handgun to
the head of a drinker outside a pub in Manchester and
threatened to shoot him pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm
with intent to cause fear or violence and was jailed for a
minimum of 3 years.
-
Seven men and one woman have
been jailed for a total of more than 57 years, some for
firearms offences, for their roles in a drugs gang responsible
for shooting incidents in Huyton (Merseyside).
-
Two men who were part of a
cocaine-smuggling gang have been convicted of firearms
offences - they were responsible for preparing to rob a series
of cash vans in Hertfordshire.
-
The following convictions
involved offences with
shotguns:
-
Three men have been jailed for
between 3 and 11½ years for kidnap, false imprisonment and
possessing a firearm with intent after their victim was
kidnapped in Birmingham and threatened with a shotgun.
-
A man who terrorised his lover
at her house in Rossington, South Yorkshire, whilst armed with
a sawn-off shotgun was given an 18-month community order.
-
A man who was armed with a
shotgun has been given a 12-year jail sentence after
attempting to rob a filling station in Blaydon (Tyneside).
-
Three men have been jailed for between 4 years and 8 years for
their part in raids on post offices and bookmakers in Wingate,
Trimdon Station and Elwick (County Durham) in which one man
was armed with a sawn-off shotgun.
-
A man who hid a sawn-off shotgun
at his home in Northampton after he found it in his brother's
garden has been jailed for 5 years.
-
A man who had a sawn-off
shotgun and cartridges outside a Middlesbrough flat
where police discovered drugs was jailed for 3 years after
pleading guilty to possessing a shotgun without a certificate.
-
A man whose photograph, in which
he posed
with a sawn-off shotgun, was found on his son's phone admitted
illegal possession of the gun and was jailed for 5 years.
-
A man who took a shotgun to a
field in Wootton (Bedfordshire) intending to kill himself
after assaulting his wife pleaded guilty to assault causing
actual bodily harm and having a shotgun in a public place - he
was given a suspended 46 week prison sentence and 100 hours
unpaid work together with a fine.
-
There were a number of
convictions for possessing illegal firearms:
-
Two gang members were convicted
of possessing a Mac-10 machine pistol found by police in Aston
(Birmingham).
-
A man from Luton (Bedfordshire)
has been given a 5 year prison sentence after admitting
possessing a pistol which he had been asked to keep in return
for £300 but then lost.
-
A teenage woman pleaded guilty
to possessing a handgun she had been asked to look after at
her flat in Beckenham (south east London) and was sentenced to
3 years detention.
-
Another woman was sentenced to 5
years after police found two pistols, a sawn-off shotgun, a
silencer and ammunition at her home in Isleworth (west London).
-
A man caught in Harrow (north
west London) with a modified imitation handgun loaded with
three bullets has been found guilty and jailed for 6½ years.
-
A man from South Shields was
jailed for 9 years after cocaine, cash and a loaded pistol
were found at his home.
-
A 19-year-old pleaded guilty to
possessing a 9mm pistol and ammunition found at his home in
Derby - he was sentenced to 2 years and 9 months, a lesser
sentence because he had been a key witness in a murder trial
-
A man described as a passionate
gun collector was jailed for 5 years after pleading guilty to
nine firearm offences - he had more than 50 guns at his
cottage in Heywood (Greater Manchester) some of which were
unlicensed
-
A man who was banned from owning
a firearm as a result of a previous offence but was found with a rifle at his
home in Kentish Town (north London) has been
jailed for 5 years.
-
A man from Blyth
(Northumberland) was given a conditional discharge after he
told the police he had a .22 round in his pocket in a bid
to get help to kick a drug habit - he was banned from having
guns and ammunition as a result of a previous conviction.
-
The following cases involved stun
guns:
-
Three students caught with a
Taser gun in a Swansea nightclub were each fined £50.
-
A man was jailed for 12 months
for a number of offences including having a prohibited stun
gun which was found during a police search of his property in
Althorpe (Lincolnshire).
-
A man has pleaded guilty to
possessing a stun gun, which was found in his car in Wellingborough
(Northamptonshire), and has been given a suspended 40 week
prison sentence and 120 hours community service.
-
A man from Walcot (Wiltshire)
has been jailed for 3 years and 10 months after a stun gun and
cocaine were found in a car.
-
Airguns and Imitation Guns (Court Cases)
-
A teenager who has been
convicted of murdering his girlfriend at their flat in
Arbroath (Angus) was also found guilty of pointing an airgun
at two men and pulling the trigger.
-
A 16-year-old youth who shot and
injured a woman on a night out in Mansfield (Nottinghamshire)
claimed he was aiming at flower pots with an air rifle he had
been given as a gift - he was given a 12-month community order
and ordered to pay compensation to the victim who has suffered
long-term injuries.
-
A man who fired an air rifle at
a teenager while he was high on drink and drugs in Lye (West
Midlands) has been jailed for 5 years - the victim may lose
sight of one eye.
-
A man from Lye (West Midlands)
who attacked his love rival and his mother whilst armed with
an imitation handgun has been jailed for 8 years - his
brother and another man who were involved in the attack and
were armed with a hammer and a baseball bat were jailed for 6
and 5½ years.
-
A man who was waving an airgun
outside a home in Middlesbrough where he threatened to kill his
ex-partner has been jailed for 3 years after admitting affray
and possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate
(police had also found 68 rounds of .22 ammunition)
-
There were other incidents in
which airguns and imitation guns were used to cause fear:
-
A man pleaded guilty of
possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear during an
incident at Gatwick Airport - the weapon was reported to be an
imitation.
-
A man who brandished a loaded
air pistol at a police officer in Sunderland admitted
possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear and has been
given a suspended 36 week jail sentence and 150 hours of
unpaid work.
-
A man who armed himself with a
ball bearing pistol for a meeting with two people in Swindon
(Wiltshire) has been given a suspended 51 week sentence and
150 hours community service, and his teenage friend who owned
the gun admitted a firearms offence and was given a suspended
40 weeks sentences and 130 hours community service.
-
A woman was given a 12-month
supervision order after threatening two other women with her
husband's air rifle in Bretton (Peterborough).
-
A man who pointed an air pistol
at his step-son in East Ham (east London) and threatened to
kill him has been jailed for 15 months.
-
A teenager who fired shots from
an air rifle in Inverurie (Aberdeenshire) put people in danger
and has admitted a charge of culpably and recklessly
discharging an airgun.
-
Two teenagers have admitted
repeatedly firing a ball-bearing gun in a play park in
Oldmeldrum (Aberdeen).
-
A man pleaded guilty to
committing a breach of the peace by discharging an air pistol
causing fear and alarm in Edinburgh - he was sentenced to 200
hours community service.
-
A teenager who fired a
ball-bearing gun at a fellow motorist in Peterlee (County
Durham) pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a firearm
with intent to cause a fear of violence.
-
A man mugged two homeless people
in Leicester whilst armed with an airgun and awaits sentence.
-
There were a number of
convictions for robberies and attempted robberies in which the
offender(s) was armed with an imitation firearm or airgun.
The incidents occurred:
-
at shops, banks and post offices
in Bilton (Warwickshire) (a man pleaded guilty to two charges
of robbery and possessing an imitation firearm and was jailed
for 10 year), Castle Bromwich (West Midlands) (one man was
found guilty of attempted robbery and possessing an imitation
firearm, and another man pleaded to guilty to both charges), Johnstone (Renfrewshire) (a teenager was armed
with a BB gun and a hatchet), Rochdale (Greater Manchester) (a
17-year-old has been sentenced to an 8-month detention and
training order) and Southampton (a teenage woman has
been jailed for 5 years after a number of incidents involving
an air pistol)
-
at a bookmakers in Hull (a man
was been jailed for 5 years)
-
at bars or restaurants in Paisley (a
man committed two robberies using a replica revolver and has
been jailed for 4 years) and West Didsbury (Greater Manchester)
(a man who admitted possessing an imitation firearm has been
jailed for 7½ years)
-
at a service station in
Southampton (a man was jailed for 6 years and received a 2
year extended licence)
-
on security guards in two
robberies in Shawlands (Glasgow) (a man has been jailed for 6
years and 5 months) and one in
Newmains (Lanarkshire) (an airgun was used - the getaway
driver has admitted his involvement)
-
in a street robbery in
Portsmouth (two men have been jailed for 6 years and 5 years
after they attempted to rob a man whilst armed with an
imitation firearm)
-
on a taxi driver in Winson Green
(Birmingham) (the offender has pleaded guilty to two charges
of robbery and one of possessing an imitation firearm)
-
A 17-year-old who aimed a "toy"
AK47 gun at passers-by in Paignton (Devon) has been given
"suitable advice" about his conduct and given an £80 fine.
-
A man who had been drinking when
he was seen with an air rifle on a playing field in Newmarket
(Suffolk) pleaded guilty to having an unloaded air weapon in a
public place and has been given a 12-month community order including
40 hours unpaid work.
-
A father and his son have been
jailed for 7½ and 8 years after being found with drugs and an
air rifle at their home in Gateshead (Tyneside).
-
One man was jailed for 10 months
and another fined £250 after air rifles, including two which
would have needed firearms certificates, were found by police
at a house in Eaton Socon (Cambridgeshire).
-
A man has admitted possessing an
air rifle in Pershore (Worcestershire) when prohibited because
of a previous jail sentence.
-
Two men who robbed a teenager of
his air rifle in Eston (Teesside) were jailed for 3 years and
2½ years and a 14-year-old was given a 12-month referral
order.
-
A physiotherapist from
Sunderland was given a caution by the Health Professional
Council after he encouraged a road accident victim to fire an
air pistol.
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