Man jailed for making improvised firearms

Police said they first found weapons linked to Riley in January 2023

A man making improvised firearms has been jailed for 12 years and 9 months.

West Midlands Police said officers were able to forensically link so-called "slam guns" they discovered to Kemarn Riley, of Ward End, Birmingham.

Later, similar weapons found by Metropolitan Police colleagues were also linked to the 24-year-old, the West Midlands force said.

Riley admitted the manufacture of a weapon and ammunition at a previous hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, along with two counts of possession of a firearm.

The force said the initial discoveries were made in January 2023 when officers searched an address in Handsworth, Birmingham, following a report of criminal damage.

As well as a converted blank-firing pistol and shotgun shells, they found a bag in the garden containing two metal pipes.

Police said they suspected these could be combined to form a crude weapon which could be fired by employing a slamming motion.

A further "slam gun" was found in a vehicle the following month and in March the Metropolitan Police got in touch to report weapons of a similar description, which were also forensically linked to Riley.

PC Owen Zambra from West Midlands Police said: “These weapons can maim and kill, and they’re supplied to criminals who use them to intimidate and elicit fear in others."