Birmingham gang jailed over firearms conversion plot

Three members of a criminal gang have been jailed for their part in buying dozens of blank-firing handguns with a plan to turn them into live weapons.

The legal blank pistols were bought from shops around the West Midlands by Perhys Neale, 31, who was driven by accomplice, 33-year-old Shaun Williams.

The guns were passed to Christopher Watson, also from Birmingham, who himself had bought one blank pistol.

The three were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court earlier.

They had admitted firearms offences at the same court on 8 June.

Christopher Watson, Shaun Williams and Perhys Neale admitted firearms offences

Converted firearms were found in a transit van occupied by Watson and Williams

Watson and Williams were arrested by armed officers while driving a white transit van near Spaghetti Junction, Birmingham, in November of last year.

Acting on the request of the National Crime Agency (NCA), officers found firearm components as well as ammunition in the vehicle.

A search of the trio's homes turned up equipment used to drill the blank pistols, enabling the devices to fire live rounds.

The weapons would cost about £100 to buy but would have been worth at least £2,500 each on the criminal market, said the NCA.

Neale was pictured carrying blank firearms he had bought from a shop in Birmingham

Neale is thought to have bought about 45 blank-firing Turkish Retay 84FS pistols from gun stores, including shops in Birmingham and Tamworth.

In one text message, Neale wrote he was getting four pistols converted, which would potentially make him about £9,000, the NCA said.

Watson, 31, of Nechells Park Road, was jailed for five years and three months and Williams, of Brookvale Park Road, to four years and six months.

Neale, of Prince William Close, who also admitted a drugs-related offence, was sentenced to a total of four years.

Williams was pictured driving with Watson in the passenger seat

NCA Branch Commander Mick Pope said: "It is chilling to think that the dozens of blank firing weapons this gang bought could have been destined for organised criminals as viable handguns.

"I've no doubt more handguns would have been produced had we not intervened."