The currently loaded gun is found hidden in the drawers of the children’s bedroom | UK news

This is the shocking moment a loaded gun was found hidden in a children’s underwear drawer.

It was one of six firearms – including a sawed-off pump-action rifle – recovered during a raid at the home of Danny Butler, 44, in Lambeth, South. London.

Class A and B drugs were hidden throughout the address, which he shared with his wife and three children, including an 18-month-old.

The seizure came amid a wider crackdown on gun use in London, with The Metropolitan Police taking more than one off the streets every day last year.

But figures show almost half of the capital’s shootings remain unsolved.

The number of cases leading to a person being prosecuted reached 52% – the highest rate in 11 years – but that still leaves 48% of offenders yet to face justice.

Detectives believe this is partly due to fear of preventing witnesses from coming forward or sharing vital evidence, and some victims seeking revenge themselves rather than cooperating.

Commander Paul Brogden said: “It comes down to trusting our communities, we need communities to trust us with evidence, trust us to manage the recordings from the Ring doorbell, CCTV access.

“People are worried, people are scared, victims are scared and often reluctant to come forward.

“We encourage them to trust us, we will keep them safe. While our success rates have improved, there are 48% we haven’t been able to solve.

He said detectives have “long memories” and will investigate for years, especially if there is a series of linked shootings.

Detective Superintendent Victoria Sullivan, a specialist crime officer based in south-east London, said: “Often the victim themselves who has been shot does not want to tell the police and this could be because they are seeking punishment themselves.

“So today’s victim could be tomorrow’s suspect. And that’s why it’s very important that we act really, really quickly to try to resolve this situation.

Around half of London’s shootings are thought to be linked to gang crime.

Mr Brogden, who is responsible for specialist crime, said: “The reality is that there is a vicious cycle of violence, often involving money, drugs, firearms and gangs.

“We know that over half of all shootings in London involve gangs or organized crime groups.

“While the likelihood of a member of the public being a victim of gun crime is very low, we do see completely innocent victims of crime, as we recently saw with the poor young woman in Dalston.”

A nine-year-old girl was shot dead as she ate dinner with her family when a gunman on a motorbike opened fire outside a restaurant in Hackney last month.

Mr Brogden said the investigation was “moving at a pace”, with a background of “serious violence and gang involvement” being a key line of inquiry.

The Met says the number of incidents in which a weapon is fired, known as fatal barrel discharges, is the lowest it has been in 15 years, falling from 196 to 145 in March 2023.

Gun-related killings have also fallen year-on-year over the past three years – from 12 in 2021/22 to 10 in 2022/23, eight in 2023/24 and two so far this year.

Most of the 386 illegal firearms seized in the capital last year were pistols, almost half of which were converted into firearms.

Detective Superintendent Tim Mustoe said the latter “are one of the concerns for us at the moment as we see an increasing use of these weapons in shootings across London”.

He also described 3D printed firearms as “a key threat”, with the technology “evolving very rapidly”.

Blank guns are commonly used as starting guns at sporting events, as props in the film and theater industries, and for a number of other legitimate uses such as scaring birds.

They can be purchased for as little as £100 before being modified to fire live ammunition and sold to criminals for thousands.

Mr Mustoe said: “We aim to stop lethal firearms entering London in the first place and when they do find their way onto London’s streets we aim to take them off the streets and out of the hands of criminals who try to use them. .

“There is an ongoing demand for firearms and to target that it is also important to look at the people who are trying to use them.”

But he added: “Unfortunately, we are facing some significant challenges with our investigations.

“Many involve gang members and start tragically in hospital where we work with the victim to understand what happened. And most understandably, fear and lack of trust can be barriers to people feeling confident to engage with us.

“This can make it difficult to understand the motivation behind the shootings, where they happened and sometimes the background that can go back many years.

“That’s why we’ve been tireless in our efforts as an organization to work with our communities and listen to them to try to do this better.

“The recent shootings in London are a sad reminder that despite the cuts, despite the detections, we must continue to crack down on firearms.

“We’re appealing to communities to share any information they may have about where those firearms are or the people trying to use them.”

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