A primary school teaching assistant who led a double life as a handgun converter for London criminals – turning starting pistols into live deadly firearms – has been locked-up along with his accomplice.
Tyrone Cox, 26, of Balmoral Road, Enfield (pic.top) helped tutor three to five year-olds at an Islington school while using his metal-working skills to produce guns in a garden shed.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years imprisonment at Wood Green Crown Court and jobless Lewis Monk, 22, of Chadwell Avenue, Enfield (pic.2nd top) received twenty-five months.
Cox legally purchased pink and orange Olympic 0.38 blank firing revolvers and converted and spray-painted them in the shed (pic.3rd bottom) located in the back garden of a house in Barclay Road, Upper Edmonton.
The pair were caught following an operation by the Metropolitan Police’s Projects Team, part of the Serious and Organised Crime Command.
Trained metalworker Cox enlisted the help of Monk to distribute the converted weapons to criminals.
On December 21, last year officers watched as Monk collected Cox and drove him to a sports shop in Enfield where they bought four Olympic 0.38s and 50 rounds of blank-firing ammunition.
Later that day, officers from the Projects Team and specialist firearms officers from CO19 carried out a firearms warrant on the shed, which acted as a crude firearms workshop.
The workshop contained a large brace drill, various drill bits, spray cans and other tools.
The shed also contained four Olympic 0.38 firearms, all converted, (pic.bottom) and 15 rounds of converted ammunition.
The guns were sprayed to enhance their credibility and increase their street value.
There were eight empty Olympic 0.38 boxes in the workshop indicating that another four firearms had already been converted.
Cox and Monk both pleaded guilty to two counts - possession and distribution of firearms and ammunition and conspiracy to convert firearms and ammunition.
Detective Chief Inspector Clive Stevens from the Serious and Organised Crime Command said: “It is quite clear from these prosecutions that we have uncovered and dismantled what has been a significant firearm distribution network whose members had no consideration for the devastation their gun hoard could cause.
“This operation has resulted in converted guns and ammunition being taken out of circulation and has potentially prevented a number of serious injuries or even deaths occurring on the streets of London.
“It is impossible to overestimate the misery and fear these weapons could have brought if they had got into the hands of those seeking to use them.
“These seizures demonstrate the Serious Crime Directorate's determination to tackle those who are responsible for manufacturing and supplying guns.”
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