Three firearms have been removed from the streets of south London and two people have been jailed following an investigation by Met detectives.
Officers were carrying out a proactive operation in West Norwood on 10 April 2022 when they stopped a car in Thornlaw Road. A revolver loaded with a single round was found in a handbag on the driver’s seat.
The driver, Renee Cox, 21 (05.01.02), of Stockwell Road, SW9, and the passenger, Donnell Morgan, 22 (20.09.00), of Crosby Walk, SW2, were arrested and taken into custody.
Following Morgan’s arrest, his DNA was taken and this was compared with records on the national police database. It resulted in him being forensically linked to two other firearms that officers had recovered from a property in Lambeth on 31 March 2022.
Two sawn-off shotguns and 112 rounds of ammunition were found hidden in a cupboard at the residential address in Crosby Walk. At the time of the raid, the property was unoccupied and there were no registered tenants.
As a result of the evidence gathered by detectives, including extensive forensic and phone enquiries, Morgan was charged with three counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and two counts of possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life.
Cox was charged with one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and one count of possession of ammunition with intent to endanger life. These charges were in relation to the revolver that was recovered in Thornlaw Road.
They were found guilty at Croydon Crown Court on Friday, 3 February. They were sentenced at the same court on Friday, 5 May. Morgan was sentenced to 16 years (four of which will be served on license) and Cox was sentenced to five years.
Detective Constable Harry Ford, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “As police officers, we regularly see the grave consequences of gun crime and across the Met, we are committed to reducing violence on the streets of London. I am pleased this proactive operation has resulted in three potentially lethal weapons being taken out of the hands of two dangerous offenders.”
Reducing violent crime isn’t something we can do alone and we need the help of communities across London.
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