Ammunition and weapons made by Paul Edmunds, 66, were found at more than 100 crime scenes including gangland murders

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A 66-year-old antique firearms dealer from Gloucestershire has been jailed for 30 years after being found guilty of supplying weapons and handcrafted bullets to gangsters across the UK.



Ammunition made by Paul Edmunds and weapons supplied by him have been found at more than 100 crime scenes including gangland murders and a firearms attack on a police helicopter.

Edmunds crafted bespoke bullets for use in vintage weapons such as Smith & Wesson pistols from the US and 19th-century French and Russian guns that he brought into the UK supposedly as collectors’ curiosities.

He also imported prohibited 1950s Colt pistols following trips to Chicago, Las Vegas and Denver and falsely claimed they were more than a century old and therefore antiques.

Jailing Edmunds, Judge Richard Bond told him: “You ran roughshod over your legal responsibilities as a registered firearms dealer. You were at the top of the chain of supply of handguns and ammunition to criminal gangs.

“Without your actions the numerous handguns and hand-loaded ammunition would not have found their way on to the streets of the United Kingdom. Quite simply, you were the linchpin to this conspiracy and without you it could not have been carried out.”

Edmunds, standing in the dock dressed in a formal white shirt, stood silently and did not react as he was jailed.

A few feet away, in the public gallery, were the parents of an 18-year-old shooting victim, Kenichi Phillips, killed in Birmingham in March last year. One of Edmunds’s unfired rounds was found at the scene of his murder.

In wider remarks calling for tighter firearms regulations, the judge added: “Unfortunately it takes just one person, as this case shows, to act in breach of the trust placed in them. Death and mayhem follow.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest DC Philip Rodgers of West Midlands police with firearms linked to Paul Edmunds. Photograph: West Midlands police/PA

Edmunds supplied the guns and ammunition to an outwardly respectable Birmingham physiotherapist called Mohinder Surdhar after the pair met at a legitimate gun fair in 2008. In turn, Surdhar passed them on to a notorious Birmingham crime group called the Burger Bar gang, who kept some and sold others to underworld contacts.

When West Midlands police arrested Edmunds at his home in the Gloucestershire village of Hardwicke they found 100,000 rounds of ammunition in his garage, bedroom and attic.

Detectives have linked 1,000 rounds of ammunition and 17 guns found at UK crime scenes to Edmunds but believe many other guns and ammunition that passed through his hands are still in the possession of criminals.

West Midlands police have likened Edmunds and Surdhar to the unlikely crooks Walter White and Jesse Pinkman from the US television show Breaking Bad – apparently decent but making money through crime. They said Edmunds had an “encyclopedic knowledge” of firearms.

When he was interviewed by police, Edmunds spoke candidly about his disdain for the UK’s strict laws on firearms and the handgun ban introduced in the wake of the Dunblane tragedy.

He told police he “didn’t give a shit” about potential victims. He said he was “not responsible for the actions of somebody that buys some things”, adding that his “duty of care” extended only to not selling to people who “didn’t look right”.

Police said that of the 280 guns imported between 2009 and 2015, the whereabouts of 207 remained a mystery.

Edmunds was found guilty of conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons and ammunition, two counts of perverting the course of justice, transferring prohibited weapons, possession of prohibited weapons and importing firearms from America. He pleaded guilty to exporting ammunition. Surdhar admitted conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons and ammunition.



The net began to close in on Edmunds and Surdhar when firearms experts at the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (Nabis) noticed that since 2009, particularly in the West Midlands, police were recovering an increasing number of antique handguns and specially adapted ammunition.

After Dunblane it became harder for criminals to source new handguns. One way around this is to use antique pistols with specially created ammunition.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mohinder Surdhar, a Birmingham physiotherapist, received guns and ammunition from Paul Edmunds. Photograph: West Midlands police/PA

The experts from Nabis realised that much of the ammunition they were recovering had been made with the same equipment. Typically four tools are used to create ammunition, each of which leaves markings, creating a sort of industrial fingerprint.

The Nabis experts and police connected members of the Burger Bar gang to some of the weapons and secured the convictions of 16 gang members. But the names of Surdhar and Edmunds also surfaced and led police to their doors.

The judge, in remarks on gun legislation, said he had been “aghast” to hear from one legally registered firearms importer who gave evidence how packages were “not always checked” by UK border officials.



He said: “This lax attitude ... means that those who can lawfully bring weapons into this country can do so without them being properly checked.”

Bond said: “Are the public aware that there is legislation to prevent the sale of scrap metal for cash, whilst an antique firearm can be bought and sold for cash, and the seller is not obliged to keep any record?

“There are real concerns that the use of handguns is becoming more prevalent. The evidence I have heard demonstrates that firearms dealers are able, if they so choose, to circumvent the firearms legislation.

“I ask myself, how is it possible to reduce the number of firearms falling into the hands of criminal gangs? I hope that certain MPs would be willing to discuss with the police ideas as to how to achieve this goal.”

Bond called for a better legal definition of the word “antique” so there was no room for argument about how a weapon should be categorised. The judge also expressed shock that Surdhar’s firearms licence allowed him to own a sniper rifle that could kill at a range of two miles.

“I believe that many people would be horrified to hear that such weapons can be lawfully held in this country by members of the public. Quite simply, this type of weapon needs to be outlawed.”

The prosecution said that since October 2017, when Edmunds’ trial began, there had been 13 more recoveries of weapons and ammunition linked to him.



A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. We are determined to keep it that way, which is why we are strengthening firearms controls further, including those relating to antique firearms, to stop them falling into the hands of criminals.

“Furthermore, we have updated our training and guidelines for frontline border force officers on the checks required for declaring antique firearms.

“We work with other law enforcement agencies, using intelligence and advanced technology, to detect and stop dangerous weapons at the border. Border force targeted operations and routine searches led to the seizure of over 400 firearms and over 1,500 items related to firearms last year.”

The Home Office been drawing up proposals that will enshrine in law a new definition of antique firearms, which will help ensure older firearms that still pose a danger to the public are licensed.