A handgun found stashed in a Nike bag in a cemetery is not linked to the murders of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale or Sam Rimmer, police have confirmed.
The Glock semi-automatic gun, found with a quantity of bullets and a magazine, was spotted by a member of the public among gravesites in West Derby Cemetery, Lower House Lane, at around 1.15pm on October 18. The discovery led to an extensive search of the cemetery site, with hundreds of graves cordoned off.
The seizure had raised hopes that the weapon may be a crucial piece of evidence in the three fatal shootings that stunned Liverpool in August.
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It did not appear to match the gun which killed nine-year-old Olivia on August 22 in Dovecot, described as a .38 calibre revolver, but the gunman was also carrying a second firearm described as a 9mm Glock self-loading handgun.
Merseyside Police have not yet publicly revealed the types of firearms used in the August 16 shooting of 22-year-old Mr Rimmer in Dingle or the August 21 shooting of 28-year-old Miss Dale in Old Swan.
A spokesman for the force confirmed testing had been carried out and the weapon has been ruled out of a link to any of the three cases. Investigations are still ongoing to check any links to any other criminal firearms discharges.
The force said no arrests have yet been made in connection with the firearm, and investigations are ongoing. Detective Inspector John Mullen from the Firearms Investigations Team, said: “Every weapon we seize makes our communities safer, and this gun was stored with ammunition, which could have been used to cause serious harm. We will now conduct forensic work to establish if this is a weapon which has been used before and who has had it in their possession.
"If you have any information on this or other weapons, do the right thing and come forward immediately, as what you know could remove dangerous people and their weapons from the streets of Merseyside."
Anyone with information on the storage or use of firearms is asked to contact @MerPolCC on Twitter or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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