As South Yorkshire Police work to take firearms off our streets, pictured here are the gunmen who have been jailed for their part in such criminality between January and October 2024.
The force set up an armed crime team back in 2020 in response to what was described as a 'notable increase' in shootings taking place in South Yorkshire.
Possession of a firearm carries a minimum mandatory sentence of five years.
Each of the defendants have been jailed during hearings held at Sheffield Crown Court throughout 2024, after being convicted of offences relating to gun crime.
To report a crime, call South Yorkshire Polioce on 101.
Call 999 in an emergency.
Possession of a firearm carries a minimum mandatory sentence of five years.
9. Robbie Fardell: Rotherham dad jailed after weapons recovered from his home
A Rotherham dad’s home arsenal, which included a viable, ‘lethal’ air weapon, was uncovered after border force officers intercepted a parcel containing a ghost folding deformation revolver he had ordered from China. While self-described ‘armourer’ Robbie Fardell, never came into possession of the deformation revolver, the discovery prompted officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit to execute a warrant at his home address. During the course of the two-day search, carried out in July 2023, a number of ‘suspicious items and weapons’ including a ‘lethal’ air weapon were recovered, prosecutor Ian West told Sheffield Crown Court. A hearing held on May 31, 2024 heard how officers recovered a number of prohibited weapons, including: a 0.50 Calibre Umarex airgun, which is marketed in the UK as a paintball gun; a black, plastic taser; a stun gun along with ammunition in the form of four 0.380 calibre primed cartridges, from Fardell’s marital bed. Mr West said ‘the bed was being shared at the time by the defendant, his wife and their young child’. Fardell, of Park Road, Swinton, Rotherham, was subsequently charged with, and pleaded guilty to, offences including two counts of possessing a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation device/thing, one count of possessing ammunition for a firearm without a certificate and one count of possessing a firearm of length less than 30cm/60cm, which carries a mandatory minimum five-year sentence. The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC jailed Fardell for five years, and said he did not believe his case met the criteria of exceptional circumstances, which would allow him to step back from the mandatory minimum sentence. He told him: “You have an unhealthy interest in weapons of violence.” | SYP