Girl, 12, was victim of gun smuggling ring

Michael Sammon, 49, was convicted of masterminding the illegal importation of hundreds of the weapons from Germany, with plans to flood the streets of northern England and Scotland with thousands more.

The alarm flare guns were bought cheaply on open sale near Cologne and then brought to a factory in Manchester where they were modified to fire live ammunition.

Police sources said one of those firearms, a .38 snub-nosed revolver, found its way into the hands of Kasha Peniston, 19, who accidentally shot dead his sister, Kamilah.

The teenager was given a two-year youth detention order in November 2007 after he admitted her manslaughter when he was "messing around" with the gun while at the family home in Gorton, Manchester.

At least 274 of the weapons were smuggled into the UK between April 2004 and September 2005 with buyers from Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Yorkshire and Scotland lined up to buy them.

They were sold for 500 each - up to 750 with ammunition - after they were purchased in Germany for just 50.

Sammon was the financier for the gun racket and had "grandiose" plans to expand the scheme and set up another factory in Spain.

In opening Sammon's trial at Preston Crown Court, prosecutor Philip Curran told the jury: "The weapons were destined to be sold at a substantial profit to any criminal who wanted to buy them.

"There can be no doubt those weapons are lethal and sadly lives have been lost."

Five men were sentenced in 2006 for their part in the operation but Sammon remained at large until June 2008. He used fake passports and changed his appearance several times before he was traced to a holiday park in Hampshire in June 2008.

Manchester-born Sammon, of no fixed address, was convicted of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to import firearms, conspiracy to manufacture firearms and conspiracy to possess ammunition.

The unlicensed gas-firing flare guns were initially carried into the country in rucksacks via ferry at Dover before they were later posted after one of the couriers was detained by Customs officials.

An elaborate system was then designed in which packages were sent to fictitious addresses in Greater Manchester to be then forwarded to a return address nominated by the gang.

The scheme was uncovered in July 2005 when one undelivered package was left at a nearby shop to one of the false addresses. It was opened by the shopkeeper who discovered nine revolvers and alerted the authorities.

Police made a number of searches in the Manchester area before in March 2006 they raided a factory in Ancoats run by a David McCulloch.

McCulloch had been approached by Sammon and Robert Tyrer - a known gun supplier known as Bobby the Gun - to unblock the barrel of a revolver and fit a new cylinder. Computerised lathes at the Pollard Street factory were then used for the mass conversion operation.

The factory owner was handed a reduced sentence of six years in jail after he gave evidence against Tyrer, Kenneth Lloyd and Tyrer's brother Jamie, all from Manchester, who were imprisoned for 19, 13 and five years in connection with the smuggling racket.

A fifth defendant, Thomas Ravenscroft, received a suspended jail term because he was said to be gravely ill.

McCulloch also gave evidence for the prosecution at Sammon's trial.

A jury found Sammon guilty earlier this week, along with his girlfriend, Fiona McIntyre, 42, who was convicted of assisting an offender.

The former Blackpool landlady, of Melville Road, Southsea, helped Sammon lay low in the Lancashire resort before they were finally traced to Southsea Leisure Park.

Colin Hughes, 43, of Bedford Road, Lytham, and Anthony Key, 48, of Commonside, Lytham, were today convicted of assisting Sammon.

Andrew Thorley, 34, of Park Road, Denton, was found not guilty of conspiring to manufacture firearms at the factory in Ancoats.

Sammon was convicted of a serious fraud in 1997 amounting to more than 1 million. He was sentenced to four years in prison in his absence after he disappeared. He is currently serving that sentence, police said.

Sammon will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court tomorrow, along with McIntyre, Hughes and Key.