Chaotic criminals are using "battlefield weaponry" on the streets of Merseyside and the last three times it's been fired three people have died.
Senior Merseyside Police officers told the ECHO a new type of weapon which can discharge 15 rounds in less than a second is being used to carry out organised hits. The Czech-manufactured Skorpion machine pistol, capable of discharging 850 rounds in a minute, first appeared on UK soil in about 2021.
Before then the weapon of choice for organised crime groups throughout the UK and in Merseyside was handguns. But now the Skorpion, described by assistant chief constable Mark Kameen as "military weaponry", has been used in three shootings in Merseyside in recent months - and each time it has been discharged people have died.
READ MORE: Child killer, hitman, drug dealer - How the dark truth about Thomas Cashman was exposed
The ECHO can reveal Sam Rimmer, Ashley Dale and Elle Edwards were all shot by criminals using Skorpion machine pistols. Mr Rimmer was gunned down while standing with friends on Lavrock Bank, Dingle, while council worker Ms Dale was killed in the back garden of her Old Swan home just days later. Ms Edwards was fatally injured after a gunman opened fire outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey on Christmas Eve.
Speaking to the ECHO, ACC Kameen said: "The gun's magazine comes with 15 rounds and all 15 will be discharged in less than a second. When you bring that battlefield, military weaponry and discharge them into communities, particularly with the lack of training and moral compass, that's what you get.
"The last three times a Skorpion has gone off, a person has been killed. This is the devastation these weapons cause. This is a new element we're having to fight against."
Merseyside Police said the use of Skorpions aren't limited to the region. The gun has been used in hits across the country including in Manchester, Birmingham and London. But ACC Kameen added "Merseyside criminals seem to either be at the forefront or very close to it around their involvement" in the distribution of the weapons since they arrived in 2021.
The ECHO can reveal the worrying rise in "battlefield" weapons following the culmination of Thomas Cashman's trial on Thursday. Cashman, 34, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, was found guilty of killing nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
Drug dealer Cashman was chasing convicted criminal Joseph Nee when a shot from his Glock self-loading pistol went through the front door of Olivia's home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot and hit the schoolgirl. Olivia's death was in the same week as Mr Rimmer and Ms Dale's - and among five gun murders in Merseyside last year.
Chief constable Serena Kennedy said: "I am concerned about the type of weaponry that we're seeing on the streets of Merseyside. It is frightening in terms of the way those Skorpion weapons work. Let's face it, people aren't going out and being trained on how to use those weapons.
"I think we are seeing the impact of those weapons on the streets of Merseyside. We know they have been used eight times over the past two years, but there is also really positive work ongoing. In Merseyside alone, we have seized five Skorpion type firearms in the past two years.
"This is a UK-wide problem and we are working really closely with the National Crime Agency (NCA) to identify how those weapons entered the UK, who has possession of them and identifying where they are and recovering them."
Merseyside Police is working in collaboration with the NCA to remove the weapons off the streets and in recent weeks have recovered several weapons, including a Skorpion. Gun crime figures for the area are down with 49 discharges recorded last year.
But ACC Kameen said there was still a need for police to work an "awful lot harder" to prevent similar tragedies. He said: "We had 49 discharges last year, five of those were homicides. When we look at the other 44 – they were injury discharges and damage to property. Any one of those could have resulted in another homicide.
"We had people firing at cars driving past, putting bullets through windows or people’s front doors – anyone could be behind. That’s just the madness and complete lack of moral compass these people have we are dealing with."
READ NEXT:
Man who helped Thomas Cashman as he sought to cover up Olivia's murder
Olivia Pratt-Korbel: the little girl at the heart of heartbreaking murder trial
Thomas Cashman found guilty of murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel
Thomas Cashman wipes away tears as he's found guilty of murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel
