Yorkshire mother backs police firearm surrender following death of son

Jenny Dees' six-year-old son Stanley Metcalf was shot dead by his great-grandfather Albert Grannon in a tragic accident at his home in Sproatley, East Yorkshire on July 26

Miss Dees has been tirelessly campaigning to educate people on the dangers of air weapons and change the licensing laws in England.

Her petition, which is available by clicking here, has now reached over 9,000 signatures. It needs 10,000 to get a response from the Government.

Miss Dees, of Hull, is now urging people to hand over firearms to police.

She said: "My family know the true devastation guns can cause and I never want anyone to go through what we are.

"Nothing we can do will bring Stanley back but if our campaign and this surrender stops just one person getting hurt or fatally injured it will be worth it.

"I fully support the police's campaign and just urge anyone who has a firearm to surrender it to the police."

Humberside Police is one of four Yorkshire forces taking part in the national firearms surrender, Operation Aztec, which will run from July 20, to August 4.

Leading the operation is Chief Inspector James Glansfield.

He said: "Any innocuous possession can have serious consequences and on this occasion poor Stanley and his family are living with the devastation.

"Even the most innocent of possessions can have the most lethal consequences.

"We want to ask people, do you really need a firearm?

"For reasons such as controlling vermin is it really worth it? There are different ways to do that.

"If firearms are not kept secure they can be stolen and get into the wrong hands and cause terrible tragedies."

Chief Inspector Glansfield said: “We want to make Humberside safer and ask anyone that might have a weapon, be it a viable firearm or imitation, pistol, air rifle or collectable firearm to bring them into our stations and hand them in.”

“Weapons can be handed in at our front counter areas at Clough Road, Beverley, Bridlington, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Hessle police stations.

“The weapons will then be examined and may be sent for forensic examination if it is thought that the weapon has been or may have been used in a criminal capacity.

“The aim of this two week surrender is to reduce the number of firearms from our streets. Incidents involving guns have risen in a number of police force areas, so anything we can do to reduce the number of weapons has to be a good thing.

“If you know where a weapon is being kept illegally, now is your chance to let us know, or bring it in to surrender it."