Rogue gun dealer’s ‘antique’ bullets used in fatal shooting of 18-year-old expectant father

Kenichi Phillips, pictured right, an 18-year-old expectant father, was killed during a drive-by shooting while sitting in the passenger seat of a hatchback in Birmingham in 2016.

Despite being hit in the neck and jaw, Mr Phillips managed to drag himself out of the car, only to collapse and die in a nearby alleyway. Two other people in the car escaped without injury.

Police discovered that two weapons had been used in the attack – a 9mm modern semi-automatic, which had fired the deadly shots, and an antique revolver firing 11mm or .44 ammunition.

The bullets were later traced and connected to Paul Edmunds, 66, a rogue firearms dealer from Gloucestershire who was himself later jailed for 30 years for importing antique weapons to be supplied to criminals.

Two men were subsequently convicted of Mr Phillips’ murder.

Isaiah Wright-young , 36, was given a minimum sentence of 33 years, while his 19-year-old accomplice, Disharn Downie, was ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years.

At the time of Wrightyoung’s conviction in April last year, Det Insp Jim Munro, who led the investigation, said it was “only through luck alone that others weren’t seriously hurt”.

He said: “Two men armed with guns firing shots in the early evening when there were people, including children, out and about who could easily have been caught up in this.”