Teenage gang member jailed after loaded pistol found at Wolverhampton home

Officers also discovered a large haul of crack cocaine at the address in Chervil Rise, Heath Town, Wolverhampton a judge was told.

They swooped on the property when 18-year-old Agandy Anderson was arrested following a brawl between rival gangs at a Walsall nightclub, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The 9mm Beretta with three rounds of ammunition was in a bag by a bed in the same room as £3,700 worth of crack cocaine set for sale on the streets, explained Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting, yesterday.

Anderson, who belonged to the Heath Town Crew, was among 15 members of the gang who fought a pitched battle with rivals from the West Bromwich-based Raiders group at Samras in Caldmore Green five days earlier on November 2 last year, it was said.

Mr Spratt told the court: "There was a fight between the two rival gangs that was started by a member of the other gang.

"During the disturbance Anderson picked up a bar stool and threw it at the individual who had started the trouble who was lying unconscious on the floor.

"The defendant then threw a bottle without causing injury before deciding against doing the same thing with a second bottle he had picked up."

Anderson and other members of his gang then left the club but he gave himself up to police on November 8 after hearing that officers wanted to talk to him, the court heard.

Mr Spratt continued: "Six officers then visited his home address where they found the crack cocaine together with a set of scales used to weigh the drug.

"The Beretta containing three bullets was a live gun capable of firing.

"The defendant said that he had been looking after the weapon and other property for someone he was unable to identify.

"He was operating within a gang where criminality was commonplace."

The prosecution accepted that Anderson was a 'custodian' of the drugs, gun and ammunition.

Mr Andrew Fryman, defending, explained: "They were not his drugs to sell for profit and not his gun and ammunition to be taken out and brandished.

"He was regarded as a safe pair of hands and was holding on to them for another.

"He now accepts how dangerous firearms are in the wrong hands and what a problem they are in Wolverhampton and Birmingham."

Anderson is currently serving three years four months detention after being found guilty of possessing drugs with intent to supply in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. He admitted possessing a firearm, ammunition, violent disorder and having crack with intent to supply and was ordered to be detained in a Young Offenders Institution for five years.

Judge Michael Challinor told him: "The harm of drugs and firearms is immense and you could have been facing a sentence of double figures. What saves you is your plea and your age. I have passed the shortest sentence consistent with my public duty."