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| Liverpool residents 'must break silence' after string of murders | Liverpool residents 'must break silence' after string of murders |
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| Communities in Liverpool need to break the wall of silence around gang crime, a senior Merseyside police chief has said, after an unprecedented rise in the number of shootings led to the city’s fourth murder in nine months. | |
| Nikki Holland, an assistant chief constable, said residents needed to “take back control away from gangs” and help police like they did following the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones 10 years ago. | |
| Speaking to the Guardian, Holland said public revulsion over the 11-year-old’s killing had led communities to help police tackle gangland violence. She added: “That’s what’s needed here in some of these areas: the community take control of their own destiny and stop tolerating gang members, start telling us, because they know exactly what’s happening.” | Speaking to the Guardian, Holland said public revulsion over the 11-year-old’s killing had led communities to help police tackle gangland violence. She added: “That’s what’s needed here in some of these areas: the community take control of their own destiny and stop tolerating gang members, start telling us, because they know exactly what’s happening.” |
| Aaron Lewis, a former junior world kickboxing champion, was shot dead at point-blank range in a “cold-blooded, targeted” attack outside a chip shop in Wallasey on Wednesday night. | Aaron Lewis, a former junior world kickboxing champion, was shot dead at point-blank range in a “cold-blooded, targeted” attack outside a chip shop in Wallasey on Wednesday night. |
| The 26-year-old, who was recently released from prison on drugs offences, was the fourth murder victim in the city since April, and the second in less than a week, amid what police have said is an “unprecedented” rise in shootings on Merseyside. | |
| There have been 79 shootings on Merseyside since April and 49 since September, half of which have resulted in non-fatal injuries and four deaths. That compares with an all-time low of 60 shootings, two deaths and 11 injuries in the whole of the previous year. | |
| Police chiefs warned on Friday that children as young as 10 were being recruited as gun smugglers for gangland figures who were carrying out shootings over turf wars and tit-for-tat disputes. | Police chiefs warned on Friday that children as young as 10 were being recruited as gun smugglers for gangland figures who were carrying out shootings over turf wars and tit-for-tat disputes. |
| More than 20 of the recent shootings have involved new weapons, Holland said, highlighting concerns about where they are coming from. Most firearms that arrive in the UK come from Lithuania, Slovakia and other parts of eastern Europe, she said, while others are stolen from the military or recommissioned antique weapons. | |
| One theory is that this year’s spate of shootings stems from lower-level criminals jostling for position after a number of key gangland figures from rival gangs across Liverpool were taken off the streets over the past 18 months. | One theory is that this year’s spate of shootings stems from lower-level criminals jostling for position after a number of key gangland figures from rival gangs across Liverpool were taken off the streets over the past 18 months. |
| “That’s without doubt right,” Holland said. “There’s almost a controlling factor when you have got the high-level criminals who control lower-level figures – and you take those higher-level ones out and then everybody jockeys for position. It will be a contributory factor without doubt. | “That’s without doubt right,” Holland said. “There’s almost a controlling factor when you have got the high-level criminals who control lower-level figures – and you take those higher-level ones out and then everybody jockeys for position. It will be a contributory factor without doubt. |
| “The majority of what takes place is around drugs and unfortunately for whatever reason in Merseyside they would pick up a gun rather than fight it out with their fists. It’s fighting fire with fire.” | “The majority of what takes place is around drugs and unfortunately for whatever reason in Merseyside they would pick up a gun rather than fight it out with their fists. It’s fighting fire with fire.” |
| The surge in shootings has resurrected the unwelcome nickname of “Triggerpool”, a reminder of Merseyside’s dark past when there were 124 shootings in 2005-06. That figure has fallen significantly since then along with national levels: gun crime in England and Wales has more than halved. | |
| Jane Kennedy, Merseyside’s police and crime commissioner, said she had a “terrible fear” that innocent bystanders – like Rhys – would be caught in the crossfire. “The way these weapons are being used is reckless in the extreme. To take a gun to a Chinese takeaway at a busy time in a highly populated area is madness. It is criminal recklessness,” she said. | |
| Kennedy said Merseyside police had been highly successful in reducing firearms offences to a historic low of 60 last year, but the force was playing “catch-up” with dwindling resources to close down new gun routes into the city. | |
| The force will have 3,500 frontline officers by the end of this year, she said, compared with the 4,000 that its former chief constable said were needed to police Merseyside safely. | |
| “It’s a huge challenge and that can be a euphemistic way of saying Merseyside police are stretched to the limit,” she said. “I set them priorities and I think I’m unusual in that one of our priorities is to tackle serious and organised crime. | “It’s a huge challenge and that can be a euphemistic way of saying Merseyside police are stretched to the limit,” she said. “I set them priorities and I think I’m unusual in that one of our priorities is to tackle serious and organised crime. |
| “One of the other priorities is to maintain neighbourhood policing – those two priorities are now very difficult for the force to maintain. I think Merseyside police deserve more resources.” | “One of the other priorities is to maintain neighbourhood policing – those two priorities are now very difficult for the force to maintain. I think Merseyside police deserve more resources.” |
| On Friday, detectives were examining a firearm found in a burnt-out van close to the scene where Lewis was murdered, but no arrests had been made. His family pleaded for an end to the shootings in a statement issued through Merseyside police, saying: “We do not want revenge because that would mean meaningless loss of another life. We will leave it in the hands of the police who gave us great support and for that we want to thank them dearly. | On Friday, detectives were examining a firearm found in a burnt-out van close to the scene where Lewis was murdered, but no arrests had been made. His family pleaded for an end to the shootings in a statement issued through Merseyside police, saying: “We do not want revenge because that would mean meaningless loss of another life. We will leave it in the hands of the police who gave us great support and for that we want to thank them dearly. |
| “Let the law take its course. We want justice. No more gun death. Please respect our privacy. Rest in peace son, we shall never forget you. Your loving family.” | “Let the law take its course. We want justice. No more gun death. Please respect our privacy. Rest in peace son, we shall never forget you. Your loving family.” |