Ex-gangster who started kids charity jailed for bid to sell a gun
AFORMER Burger Bar Boys member who claimed he was an innocent victim after being shot by police has been jailed for three years and nine months for trying to supply a gun to a Birmingham gang.
Now it can be revealed how Sharif Cousins, 45, had been leading a double life before almost being killed in an armed police raid at the height of a bloody turf war.
The criminal had cynically set up a charity and publicly claimed he was helping steer young kids away from crime after he himself had spent years in prison.
Yet the former gangster was secretly trying to arm some of the city’s most dangerous criminals during an explosion in stabbings and shootings in Northfield.
Cousins, of Epping Close, Rubery, was shot by armed officers in Hereford Close, Frankley, in July 2017 but survived after spending weeks in a coma.
The brazen career criminal later gave an interview to the Guardian newspaper claiming he was an innocent law-abiding charity worker and that ‘police don’t believe a man can change’. He also said he planned to sue the force for the shooting.
Yet the reality was far different. The former gang member – who once pulled a gun on a policeman – had been trying to source a gun for the feared 61 gang for cash, regardless of the deadly consequences.
Detective Inspector Al Teague said Cousins had maintained his ‘masquerade’ for years until a guilty admission in court.
He and fellow defendants Jamael Scarlett, 25, Courtney Farrell, 24, and Malachi Thompson, 24, all admitted conspiracy to purchase or acquire a shotgun without a certificate and were jailed for a total of 10-and-ahalf years.
Police recovered Whatsapp messages between the men about obtaining a gun after their weapons cache had been seized during a raid in Northfield in June 2017 including a double barrelled shotgun.
Farrell and Scarlett were later convicted of three counts of possessing firearms and ammunition in connection with that raid. They had also admitted possessing Class A and B drugs with intent to supply.
Scarlett was jailed for 16 years, while Farrell was sentenced to nine years for those offences.
The plot to find a new gun involving Cousins was detailed at the second court case.
Christopher Donnellan QC, prosecuting, said the defendants were part of the 61 Gang and were in conflict with the Frankley Killers –
based in
Kings Norton – and the 247/365, based in Bartley Green and Weoley Castle.
The 61 Gang had set up a WhatsApp messaging group but police had been able to investigate the contents of the messages.
He went on: “What the messages show is an attempt, essentially, to
raise money and acquire another
shotgun, crowdfunding.”
Mr Donnellan said at one point there was talk of paying £1,500 before the incident where police had gone to an address where Cousins was shot outside.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct investigated the shooting and said armed police had not broken any rules.