Hockley Burger Bar Boys gang member has guns sentence increased
Dec 5 2009 by Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail
A GUN-TOTING gang member has been declared a danger to the public after Law Lords increased his sentence for possessing deadly guns.
Julian Gibbs, alleged in court to be a member of notorious gun-toting street gang the Burger Bar Boys, was locked up for six years in July after being caught with three lethal weapons.
But police and prosecutors successfully appealed his sentence on the grounds it was too lenient.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal scrapped his original custodial term and imposed an indeterminate jail sentence for public protection. The decision scrapped the automatic release Gibbs would have received at the halfway point of his original sentence.
Instead, the 20-year-old must now serve at least five years before being eligible for parole.
Supt Steve Anderson said: “The reality is that he is a dangerous individual – but he is now off the streets for a little bit longer.”
Gibbs was first arrested in July last year when police raided his home in Hockley and found two revolvers, a silencer, ammunition and a quantity of crack cocaine and heroin under the floorboards of a bedroom.
He was granted bail but five months later, officers on patrol in Winson Green stopped Gibbs suspecting he may have been dealing in drugs.
Shortly before his arrest, Gibbs threw away a bag which was later found to contain another pistol, loaded and ready to be fired with deadly dumdum bullets.
Gibbs of New Spring Street, Hockley, admitted three charges of possessing a firearm, two charges of having ammunition, possessing a firearm with intent, possessing a silencer at Birmingham Crown Court.
At his original sentencing, the judge accepted Gibbs did present a risk to the public but he stopped short of imposing an indeterminate sentence. Since then, Sgt Reg Collett has been quietly working behind the scenes with the Crown Prosecution Service to appeal the sentence, feeling it was unduly lenient.
And the Court of Appeal backed the original probation report which ruled Gibbs posed a threat to pubic protection.
Supt Anderson, from Thornhill Road police, added: “He will come out of custody eventually but this means he will spend longer inside and there will be much more control on him.
“This is right for the public and it’s also right for Gibbs as it gives him longer to engage with the right people.”
