Anti-gun drive sees crimes up 40pc

Gun crime across the West Midlands soared by almost 40 per cent during a six-month campaign to tackle the menace, it has been revealed.

Firearm offences recorded by the region's police rose to 106 compared to 77 in the same period two years earlier. The West Midlands was one of four areas targeted by the Tackling Gangs action programme, which was launched last September. The campaign did see a 51 per cent fall in gun injuries from 93, in October last year, to 46 this February.

But there there were 13 gun killings during the six-month campaign, compared with 12 in the same period the previous year.

Liverpool also saw a rise from 47 to 59 offences, but numbers fell in London from 431 to 374, and in Manchester, from 123 to 93.

Speaking in Birmingham yesterday, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said some of the findings were "encouraging".

But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "The Home Secretary has certainly made the most out of these figures.

"It's a bit over the top to be announcing successes when two out of the four target areas actually saw significant increases in gun crime over the same period last year.

"Some aspects of these results are encouraging and are a tribute to neighbourhood policing and intelligence.

"But the police need more back-up from customs, who still put nine times as much effort into stopping the smuggling of cigarettes as guns."

Figures released last year suggested there were 95 firearms crimes in the west of Wolverhampton in 2002-3, rising to 107 in 2006-07.

Last Saturday, a man was shot in the leg in Bilston while earlier this month another was shot outside The Pegasus pub in Whitmore Reans.

The Home Office said it was too early to draw trends from the data.

The Government also announced it is to inject £5 million into a new fight against knife crime.

About 10 towns and cities will be selected to run pilot schemes designed to combat knife-related crime.

The Home Secretary said of the gangs action plan: "I'm determined that we do all we can to get all weapons off our streets."