Michael Shaw and Chris Hewertson secure convictions of armed gangs at Luton Crown Court.
Michael Shaw and Chris Hewertson secure convictions and five ‘extended sentences’ following the successful prosecution at Luton Crown Court of two armed gangs in Bedford involved in a series of reprisal shootings.
The prosecution was brought as part of Operation Kruse, a considerable investigation into gang warfare in Bedford. The gangs operated in the organised, commercial supply of Class A drugs. One of the rival gangs executed a drive-by shooting in a tightly-packed residential square letting off rounds from a Skorpian machine-pistol, an automatic weapon used by Czech tank officers. A female was shot in the arm in a ricochet as part of the targeting of a gang member’s address.
HHJ Lithman QC, sentencing the men, referred to the groups making the streets of Bedford more reminiscent of 1920’s Chicago. Five shootings occurred overnight in July 2016 as part of 10 wider gang incidents.
