Two rival criminal groups, the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew, have been hit with what police describe as the largest ever gang injunction. Eighteen men, aged between 19 and 29 and some in prison, are banned from parts of Birmingham and must register phones and vehicles with police. The two-year orders aim to disrupt gang-related violence.
The orders follow a spate of firearms offences in the city in 2015 and 2016, but the gangs have struck fear across parts of Birmingham for many years. They gained notoriety in 2003 when their violent feud claimed the lives of two girls, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis, outside a late-night new year party. Four men were later jailed for life for their murders.
The gangs have also been behind countless drive-by shootings, drug dealing, intimidation, robberies and kidnappings. Letisha's mother Marcia, an anti-gun campaigner, welcomed the injunctions. 'I see gangs as vermin in Birmingham and any means to help it stop spreading to vulnerable, naive and innocent young people is a positive way forward in our war on violent crime,' she said.
West Midlands Police and the council secured the injunctions in a civil case heard at Birmingham Crown Court earlier this year. More than 80 people from the Home Office and police gave evidence between February and June ahead of the orders being granted in July. The men are forbidden from associating with each other and entering the city centre, Handsworth, Newtown, Winson Green and Lozells.
In a copy of an injunction seen by the BBC, gang members are also banned from appearing in music videos that include material linked to the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew. Ten other men will receive the orders in jail where restrictions will be imposed on certain visitors to limit any gang associations.
However, solicitor Errol Robinson, who represented two of the four men jailed for the new year murders, criticised the move. 'They don't change behaviour or address underlying issues,' he said. 'Injunctions become a bit of a trophy and encourage rebellion. It's a cheap way of trying to solve crime but there is no evidence to suggest that they work.'
