Eight-Year-Olds ‘Mind’ Guns For Gangsters

Children as young as eight are being used to “mind” guns for gangsters, it was claimed yesterday. Peter Herbert, a London barrister, told a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority that the problem of young children and guns was “significantly worse” than even the darkest picture painted by the media.

As a member of the Operation Trident Independent Advisory Group that works with Scotland Yard to tackle gun crime in the black community, Mr Herbert said he had heard from police of primary school age children carrying weapons. “The anecdotal evidence is that very young children are already being drawn into running drugs and holding weapons for older people,” he said.

His concerns were voiced as the Government held a “gun crime summit” at Downing Street yesterday after which John Reid, the Home Secretary, announced a review of legislation on gangs, guns and knives.

Mr Reid warned that teenagers who carried guns — or used other young people to carry them — would face tough minimum sentences.

The Government would look at making gang membership an aggravating factor in sentencing and clarify confusion over whether five-year minimum jail terms can be handed to youths aged 18-21 for gun offences

Mr Herbert’s worries about the involvement of youngsters were underlined at the summit by Michael Todd, the Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable. He said: “We have got 14- and 15-year-olds walking around with body armour. And we have 13-year-olds arrested for minor offences, where when we do house searches we find illegal firearms in their houses because they are being used to hold them.”

Mr Todd urged Beverley Hughes, the children’s minister to view such cases as issues of “child protection” and to consider measures to combat them.

One of the most influential voices in the gun crime debate, Lee Jasper, an adviser on crime to the Mayor of London, told Mr Blair that increasing the penalties for people aged over 17 could simply force gangsters to give their weapons to even younger children.

Mr Reid told the summit that the Government was aware of concerns about guns being given to younger children to “mind” and announced that in April the Home Office would pass into law a new offence of “using someone to mind a weapon”.

This power was part of last year’s Violent Crime Reduction Act and according to the Home Office it will “mean that people who pass weapons to girlfriends, younger siblings or other gang members will still face prosecution”.

Senior officers, however, are aware that they will have to produce evidence, including forensic traces, to link guns found on youngsters to older gangsters.

Last night Mr Blair said that a minority of children required intervention when they were as young as six to prevent them drifting into a life of crime and disorder. “In particular, in my view, you’ve got to intervene very early with these children,” he said in Manchester. Mr Blair appeared to acknowledge that many problems came from within the black community.

Challenged about a black pastor who had urged him earlier yesterday not to be politically correct about the problem, Mr Blair said: “He’s right, and that’s exactly why many people within the black community, but also some of the other communities involved in this, are taking action.”

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said rebuilding families and communities was as vital as a legal crackdown in tackling gun crime. Speaking at a community centre in Manchester, he said: “If we’re going to get to grips with crime and with guns, we’ve got to have tougher laws, but on its own that’s simply not enough. We’ve got to get to the roots of crime, the causes of crime, and that means families and communities.”