A police officer who Tasered a 10-year-old girl has been cleared of gross misconduct by a Metropolitan Police misconduct panel. In January 2021, the officer attended an address in Brixton, South London after a woman reported that her daughter had threatened her with garden shears and hit her with a hammer. The girl was Tasered after she failed to comply with instructions to drop the shears and the officer concerned told the panel that he believed she had posed a risk to him and others in the house. A barrister acting for the Independent Office for Police Conduct argued that the girl had not posed any immediate threat and that her age had not been properly factored into the officer’s decision-making. However, the panel concluded that the officer’s “use of Taser on the girl was necessary, reasonable and proportionate in all the circumstances”.

Police officers were deployed following a welfare concern report for a man at a property in Chelmsford, Essex. Following a stand-off of almost six hours, officers arrested a man on suspicion of attempted arson with intent, possession of a firearm and five counts each of causing criminal damage and assaulting an emergency worker. No one was injured.

Tyler King, 21, has been jailed for ten years and nine months for conspiracy to transfer a prohibited firearm, possession of a prohibited firearm and three counts of possession of ammunition without lawful authority. His co-defendants, Caleb Wenyeve, 21, and Reis Forde, 27, received twelve years and thirteen-and-a-half years, respectively, for conspiracy to transfer a prohibited firearm. In September 2023, the three members of an organised crime gang plotted to sell a gun and ammunition to a man in London. The man was intercepted on his way to collect the firearm, which he had planned to use in an attack on a Christian preacher at Speaker’s Corner. The gun, which had been made into a viable lethal weapon, was later recovered by police.

Following information received, police officers searched a property in Bradford, West Yorkshire and recovered drugs and weapons, including a Taser. Five dogs of a suspected banned breed were also discovered. The occupant of the address was arrested for possession with intent to supply Class A and Class B drugs, possession of offensive weapons in a private place, possession of a firearm without a certificate and possession/custody of a fighting dog.

Lewis Greenslade, 20, and James Povey, 27, have each been jailed for two years and three months after being convicted of armed robbery. In April 2020, Povey posed as a customer at a shop in Wantage, Oxfordshire while Greenslade pointed an imitation gun at a member of staff and demanded cash from the till. Greenslade fled on foot, while Povey posed as a panicked shopper to allow his accomplice time to escape. Both offenders were quickly identified and arrested.

Adrian Preston, 39, and Ashley Steele, 30, have been jailed for two years, three months and two years, respectively, after admitting possessing imitation firearms and violent disorder. The men were involved in a violent clash between two groups in Blackburn, Lancashire in May 2021, during which they were both seen brandishing guns. The weapons were later found to be imitation firearms. On sentencing the judge described the incident as a “substantial and prolonged serious public order” with scenes compatible “with the Wild West”.

As part of an operation designed to disrupt series and organised crime, police officers arrested a man after raiding an address in Birmingham, West Midlands. He has since been charged with two counts each of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Armed police officers were deployed after a man allegedly threatened staff with a firearm at a bank in Oxford, Oxfordshire. The officers retrieved a replica gun and arrested a man on suspicion of possessing an imitation firearm. No injuries were reported.

Armed police officers responded following two separate reports of a man seen with a gun in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire. After the first report, a man was arrested but no gun was recovered and, after the second report, officers recovered a number of BB guns and swords from a property and arrested a man on suspicion of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

National Crime Agency officers arrested a man on suspicion of firearms offences at an address in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. Click on media link to read full report.