Gun crime rise in region bucks UK trend
Gun crime has surged across the West Midlands after police recorded the highest number of firearms offences outside London.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show there were 721 firearms offences in the West Midlands Police area in the year to March.
The figure represents a three per cent rise on the previous year and a 17 per cent over five years.
Only the Met had a higher rate on 1,281 firearms offences, a drop of 27 per cent, while gun crime also fell in most other areas of the country.
It comes as the West Midlands was the only area in the country to see a rise in overall crime, as senior officers admitted the force was struggling to cope with a huge spike in demand.
In recent months the region has seen a spate of shootings.
Last week a 33-year-old man was shot in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, while in a separate incident shots were fired at a house in Walsall in what police believe was a targeted attack.
An alleged drive-by-shooting took place in Netherton at the start of the month, two weeks after teenager Kimani Martin was shot and killed while sitting in a taxi in Tividale.
The ONS figures include a double murder on a Brierley Hill industrial estate in September, which saw Will Henry, 31, and Brian McIntosh, 29, gunned down.
Sir David Thompson, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said the force would continue to be tough on offenders.
"We will seek to prosecute those who break the law cause harm to communities," he said.
