Gun seizures push up firearms crimes
POLICE: THINGS STILL GETTING BETTER
GUN crime offences across Nottinghamshire have risen to the same level as 2009 – but police say this is because more weapons are being recovered rather than fired.
Assistant chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Gerard Milano, said some criminals were disguising guns as chair legs or using replica firearms.
It was common for guns to travel across the country, with a weapon being used in Norfolk or Suffolk before being recovered in Nottingham.
But he stresses that the city is far from the crisis that engulfed it in the early 2000s, when the city was nicknamed “Shottingham” because of the number of gun offences.
He said: “We gear our whole operation around guns. We recovered one last night and three the other week. That’s what we go hunting for.
“In 2009, it was drugs, now it is guns and the drugs come with it.
“I don’t want to go back to 20042005 when they were quite frequent. We couldn’t deal with anything else because of the volumes of shootings we had.
“You had people who did not want to send their kids to uni here. It was a bad reputation for the city. “We are in a really good place now. “The recovery (of firearms) is prevention work that is paying off due to the reduction in discharges.”
Intelligence also suggests that some guns have come from Romanian and Lithuanian criminals who have a better connections to firearms.
Police have recently recruited more Romanian officers to work with communities that might not have traditionally engaged with the force.
Some people found with firearms at their addresses have “hardly any criminal history” or are women told to store them for someone higher up the criminal network, police said.
Talking about the different types of firearms seized, Mr Milano said: “It is a complete mixture. People can convert replicas into functional firearms.
“They may look like a chair leg but they can discharge a lethal shot. And you have got firearms like pistols and shotguns.
“Lots come from overseas and the military and other organised crime groups.
“They will be passed around – the trace of that bullet from Norfolk, Suffolk, to the gun found here.
“It is easy to say it is all criminals in St Ann’s or Radford but we have found guns in Bestwood and north of the county. It is not confined to areas.”
Recent figures released by the Office for National Statistics show there were 136 firearm offences – excluding those involving air weapons – between October 2019 to September 2020.
This is more than any other force in the East Midlands, with Leicestershire experiencing the next highest number at 108 offences.
This is also the highest number of offences recorded since the period from April 2009 to March 2010 when there were 137 offences.
The lowest number of offences recorded in Nottinghamshire was April 2014 to March 2015 when there were just 66.
Talking about the recent figures,
Mr Milano said: “90 percent or more is proactive – the seizure of weapons rather than responding to discharges or homicides.
“When did we last have someone shot and killed in this city?” ACC Milano said Operation Reacher – launched in April 2018 in Bestwood after a rise in gun offences – had tackled some of the problems facing the city.
He said vehicle stops, stop and searches, and warrants at addresses continued to happen daily to drive firearms out of the city. Operation Reacher has also been rolled out across every neighbourhood in the city and country. Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping added: “We have been more proactive. We are searching people and taking more weapons off them. “Almost every week there is a firearm being discovered and taken off someone. Ten years ago we were in a bad place but there is a lot happening here. “Bestwood was a risky place to live and now people want to live there.” The Chayah Project in St Ann’s has worked with victims and their families affected by knife and gun crime. Project manager Hyacinth Francis-watson said: “We know guns are still in the city and still being discharged but it not as big an issue as
it was in the early 2000s.
“They are being used as a threatening mechanism rather than being used. That’s the way I have seen it. Knife crime seems to be the ‘in thing’ now.”
Justin Weedon, outreach worker for the project, has served time for robbery and GBH after stabbing a man. He said guns were only being used for “intimidation and fear”.
Carrying knives was the main problem affecting the city, be believed, with the project building up a number of programmes to deter kids from crime.
He said: “If you have got a gun you have got to hide it and it is an automatic sentence if you get caught. If you have a knife you can conceal it and it is easily accessible.”
When did we last have someone shot and killed in this city? Assistant chief constable Gerard Milano
SIX residents from Nottingham are celebrating this weekend after sharing a £300,000 cash prize thanks to their postcode.
The windfall comes after NG6 8BU, in Bulwell, was announced as a prize winner with People’s Postcode Lottery on Friday.
The winners each took home £30,000, but two neighbours pocketed £90,000 each after playing with three tickets.
One £90,000 winner from Grindon Crescent was Dave Yellop, aged 51. He learned of his windfall while taking a break from work during a video call with People’s Postcode Lottery ambassador Matt Johnson.
As the cheque with his winnings was revealed, he took a deep breath and said: “God, great! Absolutely great.”
When asked how he was feeling, the construction site worker took a moment and then added: “Speechless is the word. I’ve never really won anything. I’m shell-shocked.”
As the news sank in, he had a few ideas about how he could spend his winnings.
He said: “Probably a new car. A long overdue new car. Definitely a holiday. I’ve got a brother who lives over in Mexico so I’ll be going over to see him again. I’ll probably buy something for my mother, a nice gift.”
But his immediate plans are a little more relaxed: “I normally work weekends, but I might take this weekend off.”
Another winner was Gail Duncan, 55, who won £30,000. As her winnings were revealed, she said: “Thank you. That’ll do a lot for me.”
She has lived at the postcode for over 18 years and was quick to plan celebrations.
She said: “A glass of wine will be on the cards tonight.
“I’ve a son, a daughter and two grandchildren. My son has recently put a bid in for a new van and my daughter is getting married next year so I’m sure there will be something going towards that.”
She was also planning to use her winnings for an important trip.
She said: “My father passed away three months ago and he was Scottish. We all wanted to go up to Scotland and spread his ashes, so this will help with that.”
She is also hoping to treat herself with the windfall.
“An embroidery machine! I do a lot sewing for a charity that provides stuff to hospitals for premature babies, so I’d like to buy an embroidery machine to do a bit more of that really!”
The other winners chose to remain anonymous but their prizes will be paid directly into their bank accounts.
Matt Johnson sent his well wishes. He said: “What a fantastic surprise for our winners in Nottingham today – congratulations to them all! It was lovely speaking to Gail and Dave. It was so nice to bring this news to such wonderful people and I hope they enjoy their winnings.”
People’s Postcode Lottery costs £10 a month to play and there are guaranteed winners every day. People play with their chosen postcode and are automatically entered into all draws.
MORE talks are needed on a project to build homes on a former brewery site in Beeston.
The proposals for the Beeston Maltings plot, off Dovecote Lane, were considered by Broxtowe Borough Council’s planning committee on Wednesday, but a decision could not be reached.
A spokeswoman for the authority said: “It was deferred so that more discussion on access, density, Section 106 and the loss of a gatehouse could take place.”
A Section 106 agreement is where developers pay money towards local infrastructure improvements, such as access roads.
Up to 74 homes are proposed for the site that became a brewery in the late 19th century and has been largely cleared. The properties are planned to be built on behalf of a housing association.
A car repair business occupies the north-east of the site, next to the railway line, with an old gatehouse building to the north.
Darren Henry, Broxtowe’s Conservative MP, said: “I am aware the application went to the planning committee last night and was deferred.
“Planning follows strict quasi-judicial proceedings and, as such, the decision is not in my gift to change the outcome of a planning decision.
“Naturally, I am always keen to support house building where a site is suitable for development. Therefore it is important that the planning committee considers this seriously and takes into account any concerns raised with regards to this application.
“Of course, I am aware of the representations made by constituents and I am pleased that this planning application has been deferred in order to look at the concerns raised in more detail.
“It is a very rare occurrence for MPS to comment on specific applications, but I will continue to keep a very close eye on this and ensure that local views in Broxtowe are taken into account as part of the decision making process.”
A council planning report, published ahead of the meeting, made clear it was an “allocated site for residential development and would return a vacant site back to use” - and the proposal would provide “100 percent affordable housing”.
Developers want to build a range of two, three and four bedroom semidetached and terraced homes and onebedroom apartments within two blocks, with access for traffic and pedestrians via a new entrance to the south of Dovecote Lane.
The planning report read: “The gatehouse, an existing two storey vacant dwelling, fronting Dovecote Lane, and the motor repair business buildings to the south of the site, will be demolished as part of the development.”
Prior to the meeting, planning officers had tipped the application for approval - and concerns were raised by residents about the access to the site in a narrow area.
A spokeswoman for the Beeston and District Civic Society said: “There’s a lot of unrest about it down Dovecote (Lane) because of the narrowness of it and going in and out of it.
“There’s always a need for new housing but there is especially for affordable housing. And the majority of the housing that goes up in Beeston is not what you would class as affordable.”
Caroline Penn, acting chair and planning watchdog for the civic society, added: “In terms of using the site for housing we have no problem at all, with it being affordable housing Broxtowe needs affordable housing.
“[Developers] seem to have a habit of trying to get away with not building a percentage of affordable housing.
“It does look a very cramped plan to put 74 houses in instead of 56.”
She said the society was also concerned about the impact of the proposed site access arrangements on the Victoria Hotel.
Applicant Ian Jowett, of IDD Commercial Ltd, declined to comment.