Birmingham drugs gang who hid gun under child's bed jailed

Danyal Aziz, Michael Earp and Nicole Rhone (left to right) were convicted after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court

Members of a drugs gang who amassed firearms including a sub-machine gun and stored ammunition in a child's bedroom have been jailed.

Danyal Aziz, 29, and Michael Earp, 32, both from Birmingham, stashed the gun under the bed where the child slept.

The pair were also found guilty of drugs offences.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said if the gun had been used on the streets it would have been a huge risk to the public.

Birmingham Crown Court heard investigators gained access to more than 20,000 encrypted messages which led them to discover the Skorpion gun.

It was stored in a carrier bag under the bed of Earp's cousin, Nicole Rhone, which she slept in with her young son, while the bullets were kept in a wardrobe in her child's bedroom.

In the messages, investigators found Aziz discussed using the gun against customers who owed him money.

But Judge Roderick Henderson said it was not just customers and competitors who were at risk.

In passing sentence he said: "Possession of a loaded machine pistol is an offence of enormous danger.

"It has a very high rate of fire and a much larger magazine and would likely lead to the injury of people who have nothing to do with the drugs trade."

Bullets were found in a wardrobe in a child's bedroom at Rhone's home, the NCA said

Photos were found on Aziz's handset of bullets which could be used with the Skorpion gun while Earp was seen on CCTV footage collecting three pistols in Birmingham.

Aziz ran the group and told Earp to deliver drugs money, investigators said, while the guns and ammunition were stored at Rhone's home in Bordesley in the city.

A search of the property uncovered the gun and the ammunition stored in the wardrobe.

A hidden space was additionally found behind the radio in the dashboard of Earp's vehicle when it was searched and traces of cocaine were found, investigators said.

The Skorpion sub-machine gun was found hidden under a bed in a plastic bag

Aziz, of Pelham Road, Stechford, and Earp, of Pear Tree Road, Shard End, were previously found guilty of conspiracy charges to supply cocaine and heroin, plus firearms offences that included possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Aziz was jailed for 33 years and Earp for 26 years.

Rhone, 29, of Yardley Green Road, who was described in court as "vulnerable", was convicted of possession of a prohibited firearm and possession of prohibited ammunition and jailed for five years.

NCA Branch Commander Mick Pope said: "If [the gun] had been used on the streets of Birmingham it would have presented a massive risk to the public."

"I dread to think what would have happened if that gun had been discovered by the child, and they had picked it up."