Morning:
13°c
Garden-shed gunmaker behind 50 shootings is sent to jail for life
Paul Cheston, Evening Standard28.08.08
The gunsmith who supplied weapons for more than 50 shootings was jailed for life today with a minimum term of 11 years.
Grant Wilkinson's guns - converted into lethal weapons from replicas - were used in the murder of Pc Sharon Beshenivsky and London schoolboy Michael Dosunmu.
Judge Zoe Smith told Wilkinson at Reading Crown Court today: "The roll call of deaths and injuries is horrific. Some 30 to 40 of these weapons are still unaccounted for."
Wilkinson, 34 of Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, specialised in converting blank-firing Mac-10s into live-firing sub-machineguns which have been linked to nine murders.
He was convicted yesterday of seven offences: conspiracy to convert imitation firearms; conspiracy to sell or transfer firearms; conspiracy to sell or transfer ammunition; two counts of possession of firearms with intent to endanger life; and two counts of possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Wilkinson worked in the backyard of The Briars, a derelict house at Three Mile Cross, near Reading, and his operations were based in two garden sheds - one a workshop and the other a sound-proofed testing house.
Police have described his factory as Britain's most prolific criminal armoury and the guns have been linked to 52 of the 58 Mac-10 shootings since 2004, when he began production.
The three-week trial heard that, under the alias Grant Wilson, Wilkinson paid £55,000 in cash in July 2004 for 90 blankfiring Mac-10s from Sabre Defence Industries in Northolt, Middlesex, claiming they were to be used on the set of the new James Bond film.
However, the owner, Guy Savage, became suspicious and secretly took Wilkinson's picture on his mobile phone and handed it to the police.
Scotland Yard is offering £10,000 for anyone with information leading to the seizure of 40 Mac-10s which have still not been recovered.
It also emerged that Wilkinson faces losing the money he made by selling his guns.
Prosecutor John Price told the court today that confiscation proceedings would be launched to identify and seize any assets Wilkinson made from his crimes.
Reader views (1)
I am really sorry that someone with a nice family background, and apparently parents who didn't have financial worries could do this. I used to deliver newspapers to their lovely big house near the Drews Park estate on the Penn Road, and being a year older I remember Grant as a kid like me, as his brother used to play with a friend's son too. Never knew them as teenagers though. Where does it all go wrong?
- Liz Herrera (Shaw), Prestwood, Bucks
