Shot girl's mother owned pistol

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A mother of a schoolgirl shot dead in her own home has admitted possessing the gun that killed her daughter.

Natasha Peniston, 33, confessed to keeping the pistol at the family home in Manchester where 12-year-old Kamilah Peniston was killed in April.

Peniston pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court on Friday to possession of a firearm at her home on Wembley Road, Gorton. She was released on bail.

A 17-year-old boy is due to stand trial for the murder. He denies the charges.

He appeared alongside Natasha Peniston and denied a count of murder and one of manslaughter.

The trial is due to start next month.

He did plead guilty to a count of possession of a handgun and ammunition.

'Stunning girl'

Kamilah suffered a single gunshot wound to the head, shortly after 1930 BST on 30 April.

The youngster, described by neighbours as a "stunning girl", was taken to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, but died later of her injuries.

Ed Wylie, her head teacher at St Thomas Aquinas High School, described her as a "wonderful girl and model pupil''.

Peniston pleaded guilty to three charges - possession of a .38 snub-nosed revolver, possession of two .38 bullets and possession of two soft-nosed bullets.

Jail term

Judge David Maddison, the Recorder of Manchester, adjourned the case while pre-sentence reports were being prepared.

The offence has a minimum jail term of five years although Peniston's lawyer, Andrew Nuttall, said he would argue there were exceptional circumstances which should lessen her sentence.

She was released on bail and ordered to live at her new home in Longsight.

Judge Maddison warned Peniston she should not interpret her release on bail as an indication that she will receive a lesser sentence.