Police secure total ban on warring city centre gangs

EIGHTEEN men from two notorious crime gangs have been banned from entering areas of Birmingham following a landmark court ruling.

The action, which also prevents the men associating with each other or participating in music videos that promote gang-related violence, was taken against the men after a spate of firearms offences in the city during the summer of 2015 and start of 2016.

Ten of the men are currently serving prison sentences, including Reial Phillips, 21, who was at the heart of a series of turf war shootings in the city, which left eight people injured.

The shootings were part of an ongoing feud between the Burger Boys Gang and the Johnson Crew, which escalated when members of the opposing factions uploaded rap videos online to taunt one another.

West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council have secured full injunctions against the 18 men in what is believed to be the largest group gang injunction ever secured.

The men, who are aged between 19 and 29, are forbidden from associating with each other and also from entering areas of Birmingham, including the city centre, Handsworth, Newtown, Winson Green and Lozells for two years.

Another condition of the injunctions is that they are banned from participating in the music videos that promote or support gang-related violence.

The injunctions, granted last month after more than 80 witnesses gave evidence at Birmingham Crown Court, also allow police to restrict the vehicles and mobile phones they use. Police and the council previously secured interim injunctions.

The ban was welcomed by anti-gun campaigner Marcia Shakespeare, whose 17-year-old daughter Letisha was shot dead in a drive-by shooting during a turf war between the two gangs.

Letisha had been at a party with friends when she and cousin Charlene Ellis, 18, were killed in a hail of machine gun bullets in the early hours of January 2 2003. Four men were jailed in connection with the killings.

Mrs Shakespeare described the gangs as “vermin” who should be smashed by “any means”.

Detective Sergeant Ian Comfort, lead detective from the force’s CID prevent team, said: “We set out to disrupt and curtail gang activity following around 20 firearm offences involving Birmingham gangs during the summer of 2015 and into the start of 2016.

“This is relatively new legislation and we believe that securing final full injunctions on such a large number of gang members is a UK first.”