Pair guilty of James Bond gun murder plot

Frankie Sinclair arranged to buy a new Walther PPK handgun, made famous by Sean Connery in the 007 film Dr No

Two men who plotted a revenge shooting with a James Bond-style gun have been found guilty of conspiracy to murder.

Frankie Sinclair, 34, arranged to buy a £3,000 new Walther PPK handgun from Enfield-based "middleman" Paul Fontaine to kill a gang rival.

Police uncovered the plot after gaining access to messages on the secret phone network EncroChat.

On Monday, Sinclair and Fontaine, 36, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder at the Old Bailey.

Previously the court had heard that Sinclair already had 43 convictions for 95 matters from a "career in crime".

Prosecutor Kevin Dent QC said Sinclair had planned an attack on Keiron Hassan and others from a rival gang.

Mr Dent said Sinclair "wanted help from Mr Fontaine supplying a firearm and ammunition so that Mr Sinclair could carry out a revenge murder".

The attack was revenge for an attack on the Cardiff home of Sinclair's mother on 31 March 2020, the court heard.

The Old Bailey heard that Sinclair already had 43 convictions for 95 matters from a "career in crime"

A third party known as Chestbridge eventually supplied the Walther PPK handgun, made famous by Sean Connery in the 007 film Dr No, jurors were told.

In messages on the EncroChat network, Sinclair referred to the gun as a "James Bond ting".

Weeks before the sale, Fontaine had sold a pistol used to murder Abdullahi Mahamoud in Enfield, north London, on 19 March 2020.

Mr Dent said the defendants both used EncroChat mobile devices, which cost £1,000 per handset.

Fontaine went under the codename "Usualwolf" and Sinclair had the handle "Nudetrain", jurors heard.

Mr Dent said EncroChat phones carried a higher level of security, with the expectation it was "hard or impossible" for anyone on the outside to access them.

Law enforcement agencies were later able to get hold of EncroChat data.

During the trial, Fontaine declined to give evidence but it was claimed on his behalf that he was not the user of the "Usualwolf" handle.

In his defence, Sinclair claimed he only wanted a fake gun and ammunition.

The intended victim, Keiron Hassan and another man were jailed for 24 years in December 2020 for attempted murder.

Fontaine and Sinclair were found guilty of plotting to murder Hassan and a string of other offences after a jury deliberated for more than 14 hours.

They were remanded into custody to be sentenced on 27 May.