Five of the worst examples of modern-day youth have been named by the courts after receiving custodial sentences in respect of a spate of armed robberies in the Liverpool area in April and May of this year. Discovered during the investigation were photographs of one of the gang who terrorised countless people and shot one victim. They show 13-year-old Jobe Kilbride holding a deadly sawn-off shotgun – a graphic example of the tools of the trade increasingly used by teenage gangs to threaten and frighten their way through an otherwise pointless existence.
The oldest member of the gang was Bradley Beveridge, 18, who received an indefinite sentence. Kilbride was given four years while his older brother Declan, 16, was locked up for nine years. Declan Culshaw, the 15-year-old who acted as look-out in the gang’s final robbery, was given five years while the final gang member, 14-year-old Dylan Currie, was jailed for six years.
The gangs brief but terrifying enterprise began with the gunpoint theft of two private hire taxis on two consecutive days. The gang took the cars and the drivers takings, fleeing the scene and abandoning the cars a short time later. The gang then changed their focus to armed robberies in two shops over a three-day period, stealing cash and cigarettes.
Less than a week after these two attacks the gang struck again at an “All in One” store, again robbing staff at gunpoint before running away toward a nearby estate. Unfortunately the owner of the store and a friend had chosen that moment to come to the store and challenged the gang as they made their escape. Their punishment for attempting to get involved was to be shot at by the gang with the sawn-off shotgun with one of these shots hitting is mark on the body of the owner’s friend.
The judge who oversaw the trial said that this case highlights “the scourge of gun crime and gang culture which we have in our society today”.
I don’t think I am alone in feeling grave concern over the fact that we now have gangs of teenagers – with all their invincibility and fearlessness – roaming the streets of our cities with deadly weapons which they have, apparently, no fear of discharging at members of the public who challenge their behaviour.
What would have happened if one of our newly enforced single crewed officers had been the person to confront the gang? It is entirely possible that the gang would have responded to that threat in exactly the same way. The officer would have had no way of protecting him or herself and no option of taking action to protect others that might have come under threat.
Thankfully in this instance actual prison time has been imposed on the offenders. On the down-side they will, no doubt, spend their time partaking of a perfectly balanced program of education (so they can learn the intricacies of the legal system to help them next time they get caught) and honing their shooting skills on their en-suite games consoles. Still perhaps by the time they are released we will have seen the light and rolled out taser to the troops – just a shame they don’t come with Star Trek style stun and really stun settings…
