A Hackney teen, persuaded by a notorious local street gang to ‘mind’ a sawn-off shotgun recovered by police from his bedroom in an early-morning raid, was locked-up for three years today after admitting his first-ever crime.
The 16 year-old, of Eastdown House, Amhurst Road, pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court to possessing a prohibited weapon at the address on February 10.
His lawyers had suggested the teen was intimidated into looking after the weapon, but Judge Roger Chapple did not find exceptional circumstances to pass a sentence less then the three-year statutory minimum.
Along with the weapon police recovered violent handwritten gangster-rap lyrics glorifying the ‘A-Road Gang’ with lines like: “Fuck with us and you’ll see the barrels of a twin-gauge.”
Prosecutor Mr. Colin Hart told the court officers armed with a search warrant entered the flat, which the defendant shares with his mother and sister, at 7am and found the gun hidden under clothing in the bottom of the wardrobe.
When quizzed by police the teen confessed having the Italian-made 20-bore gun for a month. “He claimed a member of the Amhurst Road Gang told him to look after it.”
He also told officers he had forgotten whether he was the author of the violent lyrics or had been given them by somebody else.
“These lyrics refer to firearms, shooting and killing people,” Judge Chapple told the youth, who cannot be identified because of his age. “You have pleaded guilty to a serious offence.”
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