Birmingham gun gang sentences 'must be increased'

The sentences of 17 men jailed for a gun dealing ring should be increased, court of appeal judges have been told.

The men, led by a "notorious" Birmingham gangster, sold antique firearms and specially-made bullets to criminals, West Midlands Police said.

The bullet type supplied by the gang was the same used in a fatal shooting in the city last year, the court heard.

Addressing judges, Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC said the sentences were too lenient.

It was criminal conduct of "utmost gravity", he said.

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Eight guns, including a pump action shotgun and a Mac 10 Machine pistol and ammunition, were recovered by police in a sting operation in 2014.

The men, all from Birmingham and the Black Country, were jailed for between four and 16 years at Birmingham Crown Court.

Prosecutors said Nosakhere Stephenson, described as a central figure with the notorious Burger Bar gang, masterminded the operation to supply guns in the city and beyond.

Police recovered guns from premises in the suburbs of Great Barr and Handsworth and from a car in Hockley as it was being handed over to a buyer.

But Mr Buckland said Judge James Burbidge, the judge in the previous sentencing hearings, was "fundamentally mistaken" to impose the sentences he did.

He looked at the amount of the weapons seized, not the group's capacity to obtain, convert and supply weapons, he said.

He maintained that some defendants should have received sentences well above 20 years, which would have then meant higher sentences for the remainder.

The sentences needed to act as a deterrent to others as gun crime was an attack on society, the solicitor general said.

Three Court of Appeal judges, sitting at Birmingham Crown Court, reserved their judgement in the case.

All the defendants were watching proceedings via video link from three different prisons.