Joshua Gibbons, 28, and Jordan Proctor, 33, have been jailed for nine years, while Tyler Gibbons, 22, received seven years, after each was found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm and conspiracy to possess ammunition. In June 2022, police officers raided a property shared by Joshua and Tyler Gibbons in Stockport, Greater Manchester and found a revolver and ammunition hidden in a cupboard. Their DNA, as well as Proctor’s, was recovered from the weapon. Proctor was arrested at his home three months later, while Tyler Gibbons was arrested in November. Joshua Gibbons fled to South America after hearing that police had found the firearm but came home and handed himself in August 2022.

Police officers fired on a man with a baton round and Tasered him after he was seen carrying knives and “behaving erratically” in Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire. Click on media link to read full report.

Carl Donohue, aged 37, has been jailed for fourteen years and three months after pleading guilty to possessing ammunition without a certificate, possessing criminal property and possessing ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine with intent to supply. In June 2023, Police officers stopped a car and found a message on the driver’s phone from someone wanting to obtain a firearm and ammunition. The message led police to Donohue’s home in St Helens, Merseyside, where they discovered £22,470 in cash, drugs, several mobile phones, a cash counting machine, scales, a stolen motorbike, three magazines for a self-loading Glock pistol and a total of 217 rounds of ammunition, including 108 9mm rounds for self-loading pistols and sub-machine guns, 89 Remington 5.56 rounds and 20 5.56 rounds.

It has emerged that a man allegedly fired an air weapon on a beach in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in September last year, causing members of the public to take cover. The man, who claimed to have been shooting for target practice, has now pleaded guilty to unloading an air weapon in a public place. He has been remanded in custody after failing to appear to be sentenced for this and six unrelated offences.

Afzaal Ahmed, 26, has been jailed for seven years and nine months, while his co-defendant, 29-year-old David Watson received six years, after each pleaded guilty to possession of two converted handguns to supply to another, possession of one converted submachine gun to supply to another, possession of ammunition and conspiracy to convert blank-firing pistols into firearms. In June 2022, police became aware that Ahmed had bought fourteen blank firearms and accompanying ammunition from an authorised dealer in London, as well as similar firearms from two other dealerships. Following an investigation, officers arrested Ahmed and Watson at a business address in Kempston, Bedfordshire, where they recovered a loaded converted Ekol ASI submachine gun and two loaded converted Retay self-loading pistols. A lockup garage in Houghton Regis was subsequently identified as a gun conversion factory, containing tools to convert firearms, blank and converted rounds of ammunition, packaging for blank firing pistols and the remnants of metal used in the conversion process. Phone messages between the two defendants revealed regular discussions about the purchase of component parts and the conversion and onward sale of firearms.

Kurtis Lennox, aged 21, has been jailed for 28 months after admitting robbery. In October 2023, Lennox threatened two workers with an airgun at a shop in Lamerton, Devon before fleeing with cash. Armed police officers arrested Lennox after stopping a taxi in Tavistock. Cash, gloves and a large knife were recovered from the passenger seat, while a “fully functioning Glock 17 CO2-powered, magazine-fed automatic air pistol” was later seized from a caravan nearby. The court heard that Lennox had carried out the robbery after getting into drug debt. In impact statements, one victim described feeling “unsafe while working alone” while the other said that going to work “filled her with dread”.

Armed police officers responded following reports that a gun had been fired inside a block of flats in Halewood, Merseyside. A wall was damaged but no one was injured. Police have appealed for information.

Daniel Whelan, aged 32, has been jailed for twelve years after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. In July 2023, Whelan fired a shot towards a car in Oldham, Greater Manchester after some people attacked him and his brother. The bullet missed its target and hit another car occupied by a family. No one was injured.

Police appealed for information after a litter picker found a sawn-off shotgun on a bridleway in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Click on media link to read full report.

Jason Jones, aged 40, has been jailed for two years and seven months after admitting robbery. The court heard that Jones brandished a black handgun before demanding a man’s wallet in the early hours of the morning on a street in Hull, East Yorkshire. Jones denied having a gun, adding that he had stolen the wallet because he had been “put under pressure by a loan shark”.