An 18-year-old man has been jailed for five years after police used a drone to catch him hiding a gun and drugs in a garden. Miks Uzore admitted possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of ammunition without a certificate, possession of heroin and cocaine with intent to supply, and possession of cannabis.
Drone tracks suspect after e-bike chase
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday that Uzore was seen visiting an address on Grasmere Street in Anfield shortly before 9.30pm on August 25 before riding off at speed on an e-bike. An undercover officer approached the defendant, of Bainton Road in Kirkby, due to a smell of cannabis, but he rode away instead.
Matthew Dixon, prosecuting, detailed how Uzore's movements were traced using a drone. The drone captured him ditching his bike before running into the garden of a house on Queens Court, where he was seen to stash a package containing a working pistol, a compatible magazine and ammunition, and quantities of heroin and cocaine.
Uzore, who was also found with a small amount of cannabis on his person following his arrest, was described as appearing "frightened" when detained. He confessed: "I don't know. I just found it all. I f***ed up. I really don't know what it is. I f***ed my whole life up."
Defence highlights positive sides
Uzore has no previous convictions. Daniel Travers, defending, told the court: "There are positive sides to this young man. He appreciates that he has messed up, but he also appreciates he has opportunities."
"He obtained GCSEs. He has ambitions to work in future. He is the eldest sibling, and he appreciates that is some burden for him. He, therefore, must show a better example for his younger brothers and sisters," Travers added. "He is described by the probation officer as a low risk of reoffending. In my submission, the protective factors identified mean the court can have some confidence in that."
First fall from grace
Sentencing, Recorder Eric Lamb said: "This represents a first fall from grace and one which leads to the conclusion that, when you say you accept you have messed up, that is the situation which applies. Nonetheless, the offences that you carried out allow those distributing drugs in the wider community to be able to move drugs and a lethal weapon around without themselves incurring the risk, the risk plainly being outsourced to you."
Recorder Lamb noted that Uzore was detected because of his mode of travel, saying: "You went by an undercover officer at speed on your e-bike. There was a smell of cannabis on you. The officer went to try to speak to you, but you rode away at speed. Fortunately, the officer was assisted by a drone which could follow that which you did."
He added: "Although you are quite properly described to me as someone who demonstrated as having a frightened demeanour on arrest, that did not prevent you from taking sophisticated steps to cover your tracks as you went away from the police officer. You, on the drone footage, can be seen abandoning your bike, running into a garden, hiding something and leaving that location before you were arrested."
"Of course, you had, by that stage, disposed of the firearm, the relevant magazine and ammunition and class A drugs, quite a quantity of class A drugs in a substantial number of separate packages," the recorder continued. "The gun that you had was a prohibited weapon. The magazine and ammunition were viable for that weapon. Of course, they were to be found in the same package as the drugs with which they were being transported."
"You were reckless as to whether the firearm and ammunition would be used for a criminal purpose. It was being carried in the same package as the considerable quantity of drugs that were available for supply. You are of previous good character and still immature," he concluded. Wearing a white t-shirt in the dock, Uzore was handed five years in a young offenders' institute.
