Following a report of a person with a gun at a pub in Holywell, Flintshire, police officers seized an imitation weapon and arrested a teenage male on suspicion of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Click on media link to read full report.

Armed police officers, a force helicopter and a dog unit were deployed following reports of a man armed with a weapon making threats at a property in Plymouth, Devon. The negotiator brought the incident to a safe close, after which the man was arrested on suspicion of making threats to kill, possession of a firearm without certificate, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and sexual assault by penetration.

It has emerged that a man died after being shot in the chest at a house in Wolverhampton, West Midlands in December 2023. Two adults and a teenager have since been charged with murder.

Richard Cavey, aged 56 and from Telford, Shropshire, has been handed a suspended four-week prison term and ordered to pay costs after pleading guilty to failing to securely store a .22 calibre BRNO rifle and a side-by-side shotgun, and failing to store the BRNO rifle at another address when not in use as conditions of possession dictated. The offences occurred in June 2023. Magistrates said a custodial sentence was justified because of the insecure storage at an address other than that specified on his licence created a “substantial risk that the items could be taken out of the defendant's possession”. The firearms and ammunition will be forfeited and destroyed under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953.

Martin Neville has been jailed for six years after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm. Following an altercation in the car park of a working men's club in Thrybergh, South Yorkshire in June 2023, Neville shot a man in the leg. The victim was treated in hospital for a serious injury. Neville was on licence at the time of the shooting and must serve the remainder of this following his six-year sentence.

Police are questioning a teenage boy after a home was doused with petrol and shot at in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. The resident, who was not at home at the time of the attack, said it doesn’t feel safe to live there now.

Six gang members involved in a conspiracy to reactivate handguns and sell them to criminals have been jailed. In October 2022, police officers raided a home in Wokingham, Berkshire and discovered thirteen working handguns, ammunition, gun parts and a gun workstation. The court heard that Benjamin Phillips had been using his home to convert deactivated firearms, with an estimated 41 converted or potentially convertible firearms found at the property. Phillips and Kenneth Britton were identified as gang ringleaders while the other defendants sourced, shipped and delivered weapons and ammunition. It is not known how many sales were made but the judge described the set up as a “sophisticated and lucrative criminal operation”. Britton, 34, and Phillips, 43, each received eighteen years and nine months, while Danny Walker, 34, was jailed for twelve years, Mark Dyson, 43, was sentenced to ten years, Jacob Peters, 37, received nine years and Katie Lee, 31, was sentenced to three years and nine months.

After stopping a man in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, police officers charged him with possessing a firearm and ammunition, possessing a knife blade in a public place, possession with intent to supply heroin and cocaine and possession of criminal property. Click on media link to read full report.

A man has been charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, violent disorder, conspiracy to supply a Class B drug and production of a Class B drug following an incident in Slough, Berkshire in January 2023. A man was treated in hospital following the disturbance.

After being found guilty of shooting a sparrowhawk with an air rifle, Peter Smith was fined £480 and ordered to pay £1,500 court costs and a £192 victim surcharge. Smith claimed to have missed the bird when confronted by a witness at allotments in Mapplewell, South Yorkshire, but the sparrowhawk was found dead with an airgun pellet. The prosecution came after an investigation by the RSPCA.