Four men jailed for supplying firearms in London, England

Four men have been sentenced to a total of almost 30 years imprisonment for their part in the conversion and supply of firearms destined for the streets of London.

The group received their sentences at Blackfriars Crown Court on Monday 26 July for the offence of conspiracy to convert imitation firearms into firearms.

40-year-old John Fletcher, [A], of Walney Walk, N1 – sentenced to six years.

34-year-old Tyrone Bryan, [B], of Kings Cross Rd, WC1 – sentenced to seven years.

23-year-old Darius Lester, [C], of Liverpool Rd, N1 – sentenced to three years.

37-year-old Barry Johnson, [D], of Ashby House, N1 – sentenced to four years.

Fletcher received an additional three years six months imprisonment for possession of ammunition without a certificate. Both sentences to run consecutively. He had previously pleaded guilty to both offences in April.

[B/C/D] were found guilty on 19 May. Bryan was additionally sentenced to five years for possession of ammunition with intent to enable another to endanger life; and six years each for five counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. All sentences to run concurrently.

A fifth man, 46-year-old Lawrence O’Brien, [E], of Flat 117 Twyford House, Islington was sentenced to six years each for two counts of possession of firearms; three years for a count of possession of ammunition; and six months each for two offences of possession of Class A drugs – namely cocaine. All sentences to run concurrently.

As part of an ongoing covert operation, on 10 November 2009 officers from the North East Pro-active Shootings Team, with the assistance of CO19 attended Lester’s address in Islington. Inside they discovered three .380 Olympic BBM starting revolvers which were in the process of being converted into lethal-barreled weapons. Three .762 NATO rounds as well as other converted ammunition capable of being fired by the converted weapons were also found.

Lester, Fletcher and Bryan were all at the property and arrested. Johnson was later identified as having been at the address prior to the arrival of police; he had been spotted helping Fletcher into the address with the firearms and tools.

A further five Olympic revolvers were recovered following a search of Bryan’s address. All had been painted black and were fully converted. Two had converted ammunition capable of being fired from the handguns.

The court heard that Fletcher had purchased in excess of 80 .380 Olympic starting pistols since November 2008.

As a result of inquiries, officers executed a search warrant at O’Brien’s Islington address and recovered two firearms and an amount of ammunition. Officers believe O’Brien had been looking after the items on behalf of either the group or persons unknown.

DI Malcolm Davies, then of Trident said: "Fletcher in particular was a prolific converter of firearms, who together with his co-conspirators was responsible for flooding the streets of London with these deadly weapons. Today’s lengthy sentences are a reflection of the threat the group posed.

"These were significant convictions and demonstrate Trident’s commitment to tackling gun crime and frustrating those individuals who remain insistent on profiting from the supply of firearms."