New attempt to combat gun crime

This is the dramatic image at the centre of Scotland Yard's new war on gun crime.

A hard-hitting campaign will urge people to use their phones to inform on gunmen and armourers. The poster, to be shown on buses and the Tube, is one of several unveiled today in an effort to crack down on gangsters.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Coles, the operational commander of Scotland Yard's Trident offensive - which targets guns in the black community - said: "The campaign is based on the message that phones defeat guns. We are trying to get people talking to us about people engaged in gun crime: the suppliers, the armourers and the gunmen."

The initiative follows a series of shootings in London, though the overall number this year has fallen. Detectives are still hunting the killer who shot two men in a Croydon

nightclub this month, one of them doorman Mark Warmington. He tried to stop the killer getting away and more than 100 people stepped over his body as they fled. Only one has come forward.

Mr Coles said there had been successes in the fight against gun crime in London but there were still people who did not contact the police. "In most cases people will tell us within 24 hours who is guilty but it is getting people to give evidence to prove it that is more difficult. Some people have done it and they have come out the other side and survived."

The Home Office is examining a scheme to protect gun-crime witnesses.

The latest figures show the number of murders investigated by Trident has fallen by 50 per cent so far this year - down from 24 to 12 - while the number of attempted firearms murders in the black community is down 22 per cent from 60 to 47.

So far this year police have seized 333 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. The biggest reductions have been in the top five "gun-crime boroughs" - Southwark, Lambeth, Brent, Hackney and Haringey - though detectives concede guns are being used more widely across London.

Mr Coles said: "The whole nature of gun crime in London is changing. We are having a huge impact, mainly by committing a lot more people to targeting gunmen before they strike. The aim is to disrupt and destroy them." The new anti-gun campaign will also feature stickers on petrol pumps, saying: "The only trigger that should be pulled...". Another series of posters is based on the children's game Paper Scissors Stone and features the message "Phone Beats Gun".