Arms dealer sold guns and home-made bullets linked to more than 100 crimes including teenager's murder

Paul Edmunds, aged 66, imported a Colt pistol used in a fatal shooting at a London nightclub and supplied ammunition used in two other killings and an attempt to shoot down a police helicopter.

One round of unfired ammunition was found on the ground at the murder scene of 18-year-old Kenichi Phillips, who was shot dead in a Birmingham street in March 2016.

WATCH Police outline their operation

Isaiah Wright-Young, of no fixed abode, was one of two men that opened fire on the car in which Phillips sat while it was parked in Ladywood.

The 37-year-old went into hiding after the murder but was discovered living in a flat in Dudley by police seven months later.

He is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 33 year-term.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court was told that Edmunds, of Bristol Road, Hardwicke, Gloucestershire, was arrested in 2015 at his home, where he had three armouries and made bullets to fit antique weapons.

The registered gun-dealer was found guilty of conspiracy to supply firearms and ammunition and smuggling banned Colt handguns into the UK from the United States.

Jurors also convicted him of possessing a prohibited air pistol and perverting the course of justice by filing down a bullet-making tool to destroy potential evidence.

A retrial was told that Edmunds and middleman Dr Mohinder Surdhar - likened by police to the lead characters in TV series Breaking Bad - acted together to supply antique revolvers and custom-made ammunition to criminal gangs.

He was remanded in custody to be sentenced on December 20.

The weapons and ammunition have been directly linked to crimes across nine police forces.

A 1920 Colt pistol supplied by Edmunds was used in the fatal Boxing Day shooting at the London Avalon nightclub, in 2013.

Another gun, again linked to Edmunds, was also found to have been fired at the scene of another fatal shooting in October 2015.

But antique pistols he had supplied to gangs and criminals were being recovered as far back as 2009, detectives have revealed.

Another firearm, a St Etienne revolver dating from the turn of the last century, was discovered in August, while detectives said his ammunition was being discovered almost until the day the jury found him guilty.

Referring to the two defendants, Detective Constable Phil Rodgers from West Midlands Police said: "They were like the Breaking Bad of the gun world - on the face of it both decent men, but using their skills and expertise to provide deadly firearms.

"But this was no TV drama - these were real weapons; real bullets; real victims. Their actions have had a devastating impact on communities by fuelling violent crime, leading to fear and bloodshed.

"Edmunds has an encyclopaedic knowledge of firearms. It's not an easy task making obsolete calibre bullets to fit antique guns; it would have taken several days to make a box of 50.

"Surdhar also had an armoury at his home and we believe Edmunds was teaching him the art of bullet making.

"Our investigation has undoubtedly prevented many more firearms and countless rounds of ammunition getting into criminal hands ... and in all likelihood saved lives."

Warren Stanier, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "These two men used their expertise to exploit the illicit firearms market for financial gain and in doing so put the lives of the general public and police in danger.

"The removal of Edmunds and Surdhar from that supply chain has reduced criminals' opportunity to source firearms and use them in further serious crimes."