A teenage girl was treated in hospital after being shot in the head with an air or BB gun as she was out walking in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. Her injuries are believed to be non-life threatening. Police issued a description of two males seen walking on the same path at the time of the shooting.

Armed police officers were deployed following reports of a disturbance outside a nightclub in Peterlee, Co. Durham. A woman was arrested nearby on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause violence. There were no reports of any injuries.

Zain Jaffery, a 25-year-old County Lines drug dealer, has been jailed for five years after being found guilty of possession of a firearm without a licence, with a consecutive term of two years and four months for drug offences. In August 2022, police officers stopped Jaffery when he was seen driving a stolen car on false plates in Derbyshire. A sawn-off shotgun, ten rounds of ammunition, cash, 150 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin, and several number plates and mobile phones were recovered from the vehicle. Videos on the phones, shown to jury members, revealed that one of the drug gang members had fired the recovered shotgun in a wooded area. A teenage boy, found in the car alongside Jaffery, was sentenced to three years in a young offenders’ institution after being convicted of the same charges.

Following reports of a firearms discharge in Newbold, Derbyshire, a man was charged with possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Click on media link to read full report.

Colin Wright, aged 52, has been jailed for four years after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possessing a firearm without a certificate, possessing a firearm when prohibited for life and shortening a shotgun barrel. In July 2023, police officers recovered a sawn-off shotgun and drugs during a raid at a property in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The shotgun barrel and an angle grinder were recovered from a garden shed. Wright and two other men were arrested shortly afterwards. One of Wright’s associates, 34-yearold Adam Clifton, was sentenced to 44 weeks in prison in February 2024 for possessing a firearm without a certificate and shortening a shotgun barrel.

After police officers discovered chemicals during a raid at a home in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, six nearby properties were evacuated. Residents were allowed home after a bomb disposal team determined there was no threat. A man has since been charged with possession of Class A drugs, possession with intent to supply Class B drugs, possession of a Section 5 Firearm and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place.

Armed police officers were deployed following reports of gunshots heard on a residential street in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Click on media link to read full report.

Paul Whyte, aged 56, has been handed a twelve-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs after admitting possessing an air weapon in a public place. In December 2023, Whyte was seen carrying an unloaded air rifle in a gun case on a road in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. When stopped, he claimed to have been shooting rats alongside a canal. The air rifle is to be confiscated.

Following a tip-off, police officers raided a flat in Wolverhampton, West Midlands and recovered a shortened shotgun, ammunition and a knife. Two men were arrested at the scene: one, on suspicion of possessing a firearm and, the other, on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.

Police appealed for information after a sparrowhawk was shot dead at a nature reserve near West Tanfield, North Yorkshire. It is believed that a pellet gun or air rifle was used in the attack.