A single firearm has been used in 20 separate shootings, a British record, according to new ballistics analysis aimed at tackling a sharp surge in gun crime. Forensic experts found that an Italian-made semi-automatic pistol, a Beretta 9000, was used by criminals twice in Strathclyde and 18 times in Merseyside, before being recovered by police in Liverpool last year.

The findings, by the Birmingham-based National Ballistics Intelligence Network, come as concern grows over a 20% rise in gun crime in England and Wales. Meanwhile, a new UK research centre at Northampton University will attempt to uncover links between shootings across the world to help to identify gun smuggling routes, with the backing of the UN and international police organisation, Interpol.

Helen Poole, who will lead the Centre for the Reduction of Firearms Crime, Trafficking and Terrorism, said: “All too often officers will seize one firearm, identify the suspect, and then close the case. However, such an approach risks losing valuable intelligence in terms of where that gun came from, where else it might have been used, and the uncovering of trafficking routes.”

Advances in ballistics technology, said Poole, have made it possible to compare different crime scenes and help to identify who is behind the supply of weapons. “Following the gun is more likely to reduce the number of future victims, and the serious harm caused to families and communities as a result of the number of crime guns in circulation,” she said.

New research has highlighted the movement of firearms across Europe by comparing ballistic material retrieved from crime scenes in Serbia. Of 1,000 ballistics pieces examined by investigators, more than 50 were traced to other countries including Sweden, confirming that weapons are being moved by criminals from south-east Europe to northern Europe.

Figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed a 20% rise in firearms incidents in England and Wales – 6,694 offences during the year up to September 2017.

The arrest and jailing for 30 years in 2016 of Harry Shilling, caught trying to smuggle £100,000-worth of guns from France into the UK, underlined how susceptible the UK is to smuggling. Officers found 22 assault rifles and nine submachine guns, as well as 1,500 rounds of ammunition, after intercepting a boat at a marina in Kent.

Last week a Birmingham physiotherapist, Mohinder Surdhar, who supplied guns and ammunition to gangs, including weapons used in three murders, was jailed for 14 years.