Watch: Teen jailed after posting videos of himself dancing with gun

Ashirie Smith was shown dancing and posing with a firearm in a video that was recovered from his phone after his arrest.

West Midlands Police received intelligence that Smith, then 17, may have been keeping a pistol at his house in Brays Road, Handsworth.

Officers raided the address in November last year and discovered the gun, a Walther pistol, which was loaded with five 9mm bullets.

Smith, now 18, was arrested and has admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition.

He appeared at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, where he was jailed for three years.

DC James Cox, from the regional organised crime unit for the West Midlands, said: "Ashirie Smith is well known to police, and has links to gangs and criminality in the Birmingham.

"The videos we recovered from his phone after his arrest show just how much he relished in that lifestyle, and it’s believed he filmed them to boast to friends and associates about his access to firearms."

While the minimum sentence for possession of a firearm is five years for adults, Smith was 17 at the time that he had the gun, so he was sentenced as a youth.

DC Cox continued: "That criminal lifestyle has resulted in our officers forcing their way into his home in the middle of the night and him being arrested at gunpoint.

"I’d urge anyone tempted by that lifestyle to pause and think of the implications for them and their loved ones.

"We are absolutely committed to tackling gun crime in the West Midlands, and those involved in it can expect arrest, conviction and jail."