Gun prank killed teenager

A boy of 13 boy has become the latest victim of London's gun culture.

Dean Davis was accidentally killed as he watched DVDs with his friends when one put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger as a "prank", believing it could not fire.

Police warned the tragedy was just the latest example of the risks posed by guns to teenagers who see them as "fashion accessories".

Dean's killer, Renelle Coke, 18, was sentenced to two years in prison after the judge accepted his genuine " distress and remorse" over the shooting.

Coke pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possessing the weapon, which was brought to the house in Walthamstow by another teenager.

He loaded the Valtro 8000FS pistol with four bullets, pointed it at Dean's head, then played with the hammer mechanism.

The gun fired at point-blank range, leaving Dean with severe head injuries from which he died in hospital.

Jailing Coke, Judge Hubert Dunn said: "It is an appallingly sad case. It illustrates the great danger of guns and ammunition. You are still very young. It is a tragedy you will have to live with for the rest of your life."

But today Dean's family told how they felt let down by the criminal justice system - and said the two-year sentence imposed only deepened their grief over the loss of the boy who loved football and music and was doing well at school.

His grandmother, Letticia Williamson, said: "What kind of justice is this? We are the victims.

"We have lost our boy and the killer is being mollycoddled by the judge. He can look forward to the rest of his life. What about us? What about Dean and what about his mother, brothers and sister?"

She added: "I would say to anyone not to play with guns. Guns kill.

"Look at Dean's mother - she has cremated her son and placed him in an urn in the front room. That's what that boy's so-called joke, so-called prank, did to my family."

And Dean's mother Sylvia told how her "beautiful" son, who was waiting for the results of his SAT exams, had been looking forward to the summer holidays when the tragedy happened last July.

"The next thing that I know is that we are at hospital and being told that he had lost a lot of blood," she said.

"I left the room for five minutes and he was gone. Now there's nothing - our family has been ripped apart by this.

"My children come and visit our house but they don't want to stay here any more, because the whole place just reminds them of what has happened to little Dean. That is what guns have done to our family."

Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, head of the Met's Operation Trident, said: "Guns are the fashion accessory of the new millennium - once upon a time it was flick knives and knuckledusters; now youngsters seem to think that it's cool to be seen with a gun in your hand."

He added: "We are doing very strong work with the community and targeting kids as young as six and seven so that they are being talked away from thinking like this.

"The message should be clear - guns are not cool, they are stupid and they do kill."