Dealer in death is jailed for life

Underworld arms dealer Grant Wilkinson was jailed for life yesterday as a judge warned that his sub-machine guns are bound to claim more lives.

CAGED Wilkinson CAGED: Wilkinson

Wilkinson, 34, supplied 90 “spray and pray” Mac-10 machine pistols which have already been used to carry out eight murders.[>

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Police have seized 50 of the guns but 40 are still in the hands of gangsters, some as young as 16. Wilkinson bought the replica Mac-10s for £55,000, telling the manufacturer they were for the next Bond film.[>

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The self-taught gunsmith then set about converting them into deadly weapons in a shed in the grounds of a house he owned in Three Mile Cross, Berkshire. He used an outbuilding as a firing range. Jailing Wilkinson at Reading Crown Court, Judge Zoe Smith said: “The scale of this criminal enterprise is unprecedented in this country.[>

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“The roll call of deaths and injuries is horrific. Some 30 to 40 of these weapons are still unaccounted for and, regrettably but doubtlessly, the roll call of death and serious injury will continue to rise.”[>

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She ordered Wilkinson to serve a minimum of 11 years before he can be considered for parole.[>

Weapons from the batch were used to kill eight young men in London between November 2005 and July 2008. [>

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The victims included innocent Michael Dosunmu, 15, who was shot dead as he slept at his home in Peckham, south London, in February last year. The killers mistook him for his older brother.[>

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One of the Wilkinson weapons was fired at the scene of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in November 2005. She was killed by another gun. [>

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The racket was smashed by Thames Valley Police after nosy neighbours sneaked into Wilkinson’s shed and saw ammunition and gun parts.[>

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Police were called and Wilkinson, of High Wycombe, Bucks, was arrested and charged with a range of firearms offences. [>

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The guns were linked to a total of 52 shootings around the country following painstaking work by the Forensic Science Service.[>

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The Mac-10 is nicknamed the “spray and pray” because it is so unreliable and inaccurate.[>

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