Gunman jailed for 10 years over shooting outside Brierley Hill nightclub
A gunman who sprayed a car with bullets outside a nightclub in Brierley Hill has today been jailed for 10 years.
Taniyha Beckford, aged 35, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life after the attack outside Pulse nightclub.
He was sentenced to ten years imprisonment by His Honour Judge Murray Creed.
The court heard that Beckford targeted his victim, a man aged in his 30s, outside the club on January 26 last year.
The victim was sitting in a car which was sprayed with bullets but was not injured.
Police carried out a search of Beckford's home and discovered a loaded gun with 15 rounds of ammunition. The weapon was handed over to experts at the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) and they found that the Hungarian made FEG pistol had been used in the shooting.
CCTV placed Beckford at the scene and the actual shooting had been captured on camera.
Beckford was arrested in November 2014, charged and remanded in custody.
Detective Inspector Darren Crutchley, from West Midlands Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: "The sentence handed down today demonstrates how seriously the courts take gun crime. The victim in this case could have been killed.
"We would like to thank our colleagues at NABIS for their work which assisted our case and proved that the gun found at Beckford's address was the same weapon used in the Pulse shooting.
"Gun crime levels across the West Midlands have fallen over the last decade and we will continue to work hard to keep our communities safe."
Head of NABIS, Detective Chief Superintendent Jo Chilton, added: "This is a good example of how NABIS work with police forces to reduce gun crime and keep communities safe. We will continue to work in partnership with West Midlands Police to remove firearms and ammunition from the streets and bring offenders to justice."
