GUN FOR HIRE
The hunt is on for a firearm used in 11 SHOOTINGS in six years
new CRIME Gun no 6 Sunday, BBC2 HD, 9pm
THE LIVES OF Ken and Judy Hodsonwalker haven’t been the same since their 29-year-old son, Craig, was shot and killed in cold blood.
The couple ran a village store near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, and on the morning of 9 January 2009, three men burst in demanding money. Craig rushed to his father’s defence, but was fatally shot in the chest before the gang fled.
‘I saw my boy lying on the floor in a great big pool of blood,’ recalls Ken. ‘I went over and touched him. I knew he was dead.’
Detectives investigating learned it wasn’t the first time the firearm that killed Craig had been used.
‘When a gun fires a bullet, it leaves unique markings on the bullet casing, like a fingerprint,’ explains former DCI Andy Hough. ‘The gun had been used in 10 other shootings.’
The history of the weapon is recounted in BBC documentary Gun No 6 – the police reference for the 9mm automatic handgun – using reconstructions of each of the 11 shootings since 2003.
Also featured in the one-off film are five men, all with convictions for serious firearms offences, who offer an insight into the mindset of someone willing to pull the trigger.
‘Why would someone think it’s perfectly normal to pick up a gun,’ says Craig’s mum, Judy. ‘That question needs to be answered.’
But with the firearm presumed to be in the criminal underworld, the story of Gun No 6 may yet continue.