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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Gangs blamed for gun crime rise | Gangs blamed for gun crime rise |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Gangs from Manchester and Liverpool have been blamed for a rise in the level of gun crime in Preston. | Gangs from Manchester and Liverpool have been blamed for a rise in the level of gun crime in Preston. |
| Lancashire Police said serious court cases which were moved to Preston were partly to blame, with "entourages" of defendants committing crime themselves. | |
| The chief constable of Lancashire Police, Steve Finnegan, said Preston was where Liverpool and Manchester were five years ago. | |
| He said gangs were trying to "take each other on" in turf wars. | |
| Chief Constable Finnegan, who started his career in Merseyside, said: "It's very often about drugs so it's turf war; it might be about the enforcement of debts around drugs. | |
| These really big trials do bring with them their entourage and associates Chief Constable Steve Finnegan | These really big trials do bring with them their entourage and associates Chief Constable Steve Finnegan |
| "Some of the people who are taking part in that are quite young and what you see is a sort of a pyramid. You see people, the 'wannabes' who are fairly young and not that steeped in criminality, but they want to elevate themselves." | |
| He claimed it was almost a rite of passage for these people. | He claimed it was almost a rite of passage for these people. |
| "They want to go and take the position of a criminal who might have been arrested by us and taken out of circulation," he added. | "They want to go and take the position of a criminal who might have been arrested by us and taken out of circulation," he added. |
| Preston Crown Court is relatively new and has high security so many category A trials - the most serious, often involving guns, gangs and drugs - are moved there from West Yorkshire, Merseyside and Manchester. | |
| 'Societal issue' | 'Societal issue' |
| Chief Constable Finnegan said this had a significant impact on the local community. | |
| "These really big trials do bring with them their entourage and associates. | "These really big trials do bring with them their entourage and associates. |
| "And because they are so protracted people will decide rather than to commute every day to set up home here for weeks or months and then they get into their criminality. | "And because they are so protracted people will decide rather than to commute every day to set up home here for weeks or months and then they get into their criminality. |
| "We've got to be really alert to that but we can't do that unless the community talk to us." | "We've got to be really alert to that but we can't do that unless the community talk to us." |
| One young teenager in a Preston estate where there had been a recent shooting described the behaviour he regularly saw outside a local off-licence. | |
| "Some people hiding drugs, gangs battering others, shootings, smashing bottles, it's good to watch - but if it happens to you it's a different story," he said. | "Some people hiding drugs, gangs battering others, shootings, smashing bottles, it's good to watch - but if it happens to you it's a different story," he said. |
| Mr Finnegan said something had to be done about the culture that glamorised gang lifestyle. That made it appealing for young people to join and for that, he said, they needed help. | |
| "A lot of it is about status, reputation, attracting young women - all that will come into the mix. This cannot be a problem that the police alone are left to deal with - these are societal issues." |