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70% rise in teenagers on gun charges as violence soars
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor8 Mar 2010
The number of youths taken to court for gun crimes in London rose sharply last year amid a surge in offences involving murder and robbery, Met figures show.
A total of 375 suspects aged 19 or under were charged with firearms offences — 70 per cent up on the 220 recorded in 2008.
The biggest increase was in gun robberies against businesses, such as late-night convenience stores, which tripled during the 12-month period to a total of 121. There was also a 37 per cent rise in gunpoint muggings taking last year's total to 95.
The number of youths charged over a firearms murder was also up with 13 prosecutions last year, compared with five a year earlier, although armed rapes fell from four to two.
The Met said the rise in prosecutions was partly due to an increase in anti-gun crime operations and more effective detection of offenders. But it admitted the figures also reflected a growing problem with gun crime among the young.
However, separate Met statistics showed a 16 per cent fall in the number of youths prosecuted for knife crime last year. The total of 1,322 prosecutions was more than 200 down on the 2008 figure, although there were still 38 murder and 17 rape charges brought against offenders using a blade.
The most common crime committed using a knife was robbery, with 734 offenders proceeded against by the Met last year. A total of 327 youths were charged with grievous bodily harm while using or carrying a knife.
There were also 95 offences involving assault with injury and 52 defined as “other violence”. In addition to the 17 rapes at knifepoint, there were five “other sexual” offences committed by suspects using blades.
The figures show that of the overall total of knife offenders, 52 per cent were black, 25 per cent were white and 10 per cent were Asian. The remainder were either mixed race, Chinese or “not stated”.
Of the alleged gun crime offenders, 64 per cent were black, 22 per cent white, six per cent Asian and five per cent Chinese with the ethnicity of the others not known.
Chief Superintendent David Chinchen, head of the Met's violent crime directorate, insisted progress was being made to cut offending. He said: “We have seen a growth in gun crime and there is a problem, but our operations against it have expanded and that has led to more prosecutions.
“With knife crime, we think that the deterrent effect of the work we have been doing is having an impact.”
Innocent student shot dead buying a pint of milk
The tragic consequences of youth gun crime were highlighted at Woolwich crown court when a teenage gangster was jailed for life for killing a student.
Ashley Bucknor, who was 19 at the time, hit Ryan Bravo, 18, in a drive-by shooting outside a crowded Costcutter supermarket in Walworth.
Bucknor's five-strong gang had been aiming for two rivals who had fled inside the shop, but instead hit the student, who was out shopping for a pint of milk. The court heard Mr Bravo was a “nice, intelligent young man” who had “nothing to do” with gangs and crime.
Judge Charles Byers told Bucknor, who was part of the Organised Criminals gang from Myatt's Fields in Brixton, that he would spend at least 32 years behind bars.
The judge said the August 2008 killing had shown him to be a “dangerous young man” who would stop at nothing. He added: “You have shown no remorse. The grief left in your wake is inestimable.”
Reader views (10)
I thought New Labour said gun crime was at an all time low or were they massaging the figures .....again!
- Peter, London UK, 08/03/2010 22:15
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"there plenty of money, but the rich do not want to spend on the people, for the good of the people, and Labour have done the same, if not even worse than the Tories"
fred London.
No fred, I don't want mu money redistributed for the "good of the people" let people earn their own money, why should any more of mine be frittered away.
- P Staker, London, 08/03/2010 14:58
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Hmm ... gangs and guns, is this article about the "Dispossessed" again?
25 years mandatory sentence for carrying a gun. Oh wait, what about their 'uman Rights?
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 08/03/2010 13:59
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Tackling gun crime was a pledge from our dear Mayor during the election. What does Boris have to say on this?
- Steve S, London, 08/03/2010 13:45
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Perhaps if we got rid of the Human Rights Act that a lot of yobs hide behind, and made more of a concerted effort to catch those responsible for smuggling in guns and drugs, and had a zero tolerance to both ie lock them up and throw away the key - we wouldn't be in the situation we are in now! If are going to have border controls then it means just that. We need every port and entry of this Island manned 24/7 in order to stop guns and drugs getting in, but no doubt we haven't got the money available to police everywhere.
- Sue, Kent, 08/03/2010 12:03
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Have any of you every wonder why, Britain has these problems, more, "Greater" than France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain (easier to say Western Europe) , etc.
Its called education, and who started the great decline of our education system Mrs T. and now 30 years later. What you sow is what you get, there plenty of money, but the rich do not want to spend on the people, for the good of the people, and Labour have done the same, if not even worse than the Tories 30 years of bad government. I would rather be in the United States of Europe, than the British, American puppet show (What's Freedom, when you are scared to go out of your home) We want to be the 51st State of the US, because that is what we have become our crime record matches cities like New York, just to name one. I'm so ashamed of our country.
- Fred, London, 08/03/2010 11:37
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"What gives...?"
You don't understand anything? Apart from anything else, I seem to recall Boris Johnson and Kit Malthouse stating that crime is on the decline, so why not have a go at them, too, eh? They're the one's cutting the police budget and taking 455 full time officers off the payroll.
Basically, watch the murder rate - it's down 50% since 2005 in London, which means either a) the streets are less violent or b) the criminals are worse shots. On that measure we're about four times less violent than New York even after the drastic and much-trumpeted improvements there.
- Tom, London, UK, 08/03/2010 11:33
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I stand with Heathrowandmakeitsnappy. The MET say crime is going down but prosecutions are going up.Does that mean they are pursuing the innocent?
- Alan, Hythe, Kent, 08/03/2010 10:51
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An Expert Witness has repeatdly told the Home Office and Select Committees that illegal guns are being smuggled into the UK along as part of the illicit drugs trade.
No-one in government is listening. The Customs service is in denial. Their staff are being cut back.
Little wonder that our streets are awash with armed gangsters.
-the Expert Witness concerned left the country in disgust.
- Andy Parks, London, UK, 08/03/2010 10:43
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I'm a bit confused, I and everyone else in England knows that crime is out of control, but Ole Gordo has stated that crime is on the decline...
What gives...?
- Heathrowandmakeitsnappy, London, 08/03/2010 10:03
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