Tue 14 Mar 2006
Car-jackings and killings push up gun crime
STEPHEN MCGINTY
GUN crime in Scotland is expected to rise for the second consecutive year after a spate of gangland executions, a drive-by shooting and Scotland's first car-jackings at gunpoint.
Official figures for recorded crimes and offences involving firearms will not be published until October, but The Scotsman has learned that serious gun crime is on the rise, according to Detective Superintendent William Prendergast, the head of Strathclyde Police's criminal use of firearms group.
"I can confirm that there is expected to be a rise," he said.
"It is disappointing, but we will stamp down on this. We are not going to let a gun culture develop in Scotland."
Eight people have been shot dead in Scotland since 1 April, 2005, seven in the Strathclyde area.
The ban on handguns and automatic and semi-automatic rifles following the Dunblane massacre ten years ago led to a drop in firearms offences in Scotland, to an all-time low in 2003. However, since then gun crime has begun to climb.
Figures for 2004-5 showed a 20 per cent rise in overall firearms offences, from 974 to 1,165. Disturbingly, there was a 400 per cent rise in the number of murders carried out using a firearm, from two in 2003 to eight in 2004-5. The number of offences in which a gun was fired resulting in death or injury rose by 34 per cent from an all-time low of 242 in 2003-4 to 325 in 2004-5. Air weapons accounted for 43 per cent of offences.
In Scotland, gun crime is overwhelmingly located in Glasgow and the surrounding areas. The Strathclyde Police area contains 43 per cent of the Scottish population, but in 2004-5 it had seven out of the eight firearm murders, 80 per cent of the attempted murders and 92 per cent of the serious assaults using firearms.
While the majority of gun crime is restricted to the criminal fraternity, there is evidence the escalation involves ordinary members of the public. Last year, there were two cases of car-jacking at gunpoint; all previous car-jackers had used knives.
In October, a Porsche was stolen at gunpoint and in December, Gail Crawford and Sandra McArthur had shots fired at them by two masked men, who escaped in Ms Crawford's silver convertible BMW.
There have also been several violent shootings in the past year. James Campbell, 47, was shot dead ten days ago in Drumchapel. Joe Ryan, a convicted drug dealer, was shot through the letterbox of a house in the Fernhill area of Glasgow and later died.
Robert Lennie, 32, was killed and his brother John, 34, was seriously wounded when they were shot after dropping children at school in Greenock.
The expected increase in gun crime comes at a time when the number of licensed shotguns and rifles in Scotland is falling.
"I think we are doing well at keeping the availability down, but we can't be complacent," Det Supt Prendergast said.
"One murder is one too many. In fact, one use of a firearm is one too many."
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=379742006&format=print
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