JUDGES ACCUSED!

Bernard Hogan-Howe

Judges are undermining the fight against gun crime by failing to impose tough minimum sentences, a senior police chief claimed last night.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, chief constable of Merseyside Police, said the mandatory five-year sentence for possession of a firearm was being ignored in some courts.

The police officer, whose force is investigating the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, believes "very heavy sentences" are an essential way of preventing criminals from carrying guns.

He expressed dismay that the five-year minimum sentence for possession of a firearm, introduced in 2004, was not being imposed across large parts of the country.

The average sentence handed down for this offence in 2005 was three years and 11 months. Only 40 per cent of gun carriers were given the mandatory five-year sentence that year.

"The big issue for me is getting guns out of society," Mr Hogan-Howe said. "There will always be gangs and criminals but today it is the fact that they carry guns which makes them truly intimidating.

"If we can get the guns out of their hands, then we will make our society safer.

"The message the criminal justice system sends out about the serious consequences that flow from possessing a firearm is an important part of deterring people from carrying guns," he told The Times.

In May last year the Home Office circulated a memo to all judges, court clerks, barristers and police reminding them of the section of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act which stated that a five-year minimum jail term should be handed down to all over-18s carrying guns.

The new law did give judges the power to reduce the prison tariff in exceptional circumstances. But Mr Hogan-Howe feels that the length of sentence is often lowered on a consistent basis.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The Government have patently failed to get a grip on gun crime, with a four-fold increase in gun-related violence under Labour.

"The problem is, they are happy to pass tough laws in order to get a good headline only to simply not enforce them - allowing the situation to deteriorate at great risk to the public.

"As well as failing to enforce the law, our porous borders allow weapons to simply flow into the country while the Government's failure to combat the scourge of drugs also fuels so much violent crime."

The chief constable told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there had been some excellent examples of effective sentencing.

"Only a couple of weeks ago in Merseyside, two men found in possession of 11 firearms and seven silencers - one received a 15-year sentence and the other eight.

"Now that's the type of sentence that starts to be a deterrent."

He said he accepted that there were occasions when the minimum term was not appropriate, such as very young people leaned on by criminals to store a weapon.

"But I'm afraid those are very rare occasions and the thing is, we can get through to criminals if we start to sentence in the right way."

He went on: "The value of a gun, in cash terms, is very low - it can be as low as £500.

"Compared to other items that are sold and bought by criminals, it's a relatively low sum and if we can get it into their minds that not only is it a low sum of money but you are going to go to prison for 10 years or 15 years they will listen.

"We've got to get that message consistently and I'm afraid at the moment I just think it's inconsistent."

(Story here)

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