Gun crime in south Manchester

Analysts trace the high rates of gun crime in south Manchester, England, to acute social deprivation in an inner city area south of Manchester city centre stretching from Hulme through Moss Side to Longsight. Whilst by the 1990s, the trade in illegal narcotics and firearms had given rise to Manchester's nickname of "Gunchester", by the late 2000s levels of gang related gun crime had greatly reduced in the area as a whole.

The reasons for this transformation are not entirely clear but the heavy sentencing of main offenders, prohibiting the availability of firearms, community working and co-operation in tackling this kind of crime may have all played a role.

Gun crime in Manchester appears to have begun in the 1970s at a time of rising unemployment and poverty in the area, which is known as a centre of Manchester's Black British/Afro-Caribbean community. Finding it difficult to make a living from legitimate means some residents chose to turn to the drug trade – mainly the sale of cannabis. Most of the drug conflict was centred around the Moss Side precinct where black British youths would sell cannabis or heroin. After police cracked down the drug sellers moved down to the Alexandra Park estate in Moss Side.

During the early 1990s, the use of firearms by criminals in south Manchester soared along with gang associations. Gangs related to their 'patch', named after places such as Gooch Close, Doddington Close and the Pepperhill pub. South Manchester's gangs became engaged in feuds with each other for the control of the drug trade. Shootings and murders increased in frequency in the area. This started attracting negative news and media headlines, with the nickname of 'Gunchester' being used to sum up this increase in gang, drugs and firearms activity.

Gun related violence featured throughout the 1990s. In January 1993, 14-year-old Benji Stanley was shot dead as he queued for an Alvino's takeaway in Moss Side. The reasons surrounding his shooting are not fully known and no one has ever been prosecuted for this crime.

During the mid-1990s, the police started developing new approaches to confronting gun crime in south Manchester which initially met with limited success. These started with Operation China in the mid-1990s, which aimed at targeting gang members and taking them out of circulation.

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Wikipedia