Armourers in garden sheds fuelling London’s gun trade

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Individuals working in back rooms, sheds or garages are converting imitation weapons into live firing guns to be sold to criminals.

Acting Commander Helen Ball, of the Met's Serious and Organised Crime Directorate, said more than half of handguns recovered by police since last April were converted weapons.

She said the majority were converted in Britain, many by people who only produced a few guns at a time making them more difficult to detect.

Ms Ball's comments came as the Met revealed a 31 per cent fall in gun crime in the 10 months to the end of last year. She said some weapons were being smuggled into Britain from eastern Europe but most were being manufactured in workshops here.

She said: "In some cases it is a cottage industry with people producing one or two weapons. But these people are creating something that can only be used to kill or maim someone and they are doing it for pure profit. They are enormously dangerous to our communities." She said police were appealing to people to help identify the armourers.

Ms Ball said a combination of police action on the streets and initiatives to stop people taking weapons into clubs had contributed to the fall in gun crime.

Tougher sentences, the use of anonymous witnesses and a willingness by some gunmen to give evidence against former associates were also having an impact.

Ms Ball said: "When someone walks into a crowded ice rink or a nightclub and they have no concern about pulling out a gun and shooting someone dead in front of hundreds of witnesses you begin to understand the lack of fear in these gunmen's minds. I believe the measures we have introduced will restrain people from doing this."

Other initiatives to tackle guns included "beat sweeps" where police searched public areas around estates where suspects hid weapons within easy reach.

Among the tougher sentences for gun killers, she said, was last month's 27-year term for Triston Walker, 22, for murdering Annaka Pinto, 17, at a nightclub in Tottenham.