Gang leader starts six-year gun sentence

The leader of a notorious Black Country street gang was beginning a six year prison sentence today after police found a loaded gun he had stashed under his girlfriend's bed.

Former cage fighter Scott Benjamin led the Pendeford Crew, and was well-known amongst Wolverhampton gang members.

The 23-year-old, with the street name Shredder, was behind bars today after police saw the grip of the pistol, which had seven bullets in it, sticking out of a bag under a bed at his girlfriend's house in Inglewood Avenue, Bradmore.

Officers searched the house because Benjamin went to Bilston Street police station earlier to talk about an unrelated matter.

Benjamin admitted possession of the firearm and ammunition modified to let it explode on impact, on the basis that he was looking after it for a criminal associate who he refused to name.

Yesterday 12 officers were at Birmingham Crown Court ready to give evidence that Benjamin, of Ploughmans Walk, Pendeford, was linked to gang crime.

A court had heard he was in Wolverhampton city centre as close friend Marlon Morris, 21, was stabbed to death by rival gang member Jamie Price, son of dance music star Goldie, in 2008.

Benjamin was alleged to have "seriously injured" a member of Price's gang before the murder.

Judge Jonathan Gosling said further evidence about his lifestyle was not needed as it would not have made a difference to the sentence.

He said Benjamin had been trusted by "serious and dangerous criminals" to look after the gun, which was recovered on August 17, 2009.

Benjamin would have known it would almost certainly have been used to inflict "serious or fatal harm" after it had been returned to its owner, the judge said

He added: "Wolverhampton, like most cities, is blighted by the use of firearms by rival gang members resulting in violence against not only other criminals but all too often on innocent bystanders."

Sources say the Pendeford Crew's rise can be traced to the gangland murder of Wolverhampton footballer Kevin Nunes in 2002.

He was shot by a rival gang of drug dealers, including senior figures in Heath Town's gang. Killers were given jail terms totalling 135 years in 2008, creating a drugs underworld void.