A semi-automatic handgun was found stashed in a Nike bag among gravestones at West Derby Cemetery yesterday.
Hundreds of graves were cordoned off and forensic investigators conducted a painstaking examination of the site after the weapon was reported. Now Merseyside Police has released pictures of the weapon, as well as of a number of bullets and a clip also found in the bag.
The force says it is in the process of forensically examine the weapon and work will be ongoing to check if it linked to the August murders of Sam Rimmer, Ashley Dale or Olivia-Pratt-Korbel. Police were called to the cemetery, on Lower House Lane, at around 1.15pm after a member of the public came across the black bag and realised it contained a gun.
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The weapon does not appear to match the .38 revolver which, according to detectives, fired the fatal shot at nine-year-old Olivia on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, on August 22. However the killer in that case was also carrying a second handgun, used to shoot at his intended target Joseph Nee, which was described by police as a self-loading 9mm Glock handgun.
Police have not publicly revealed the type of firearms used to shoot 28-year-old Miss Dale on Leinster Road, Old Swan, or 22-year-old Mr Rimmer on Lavrock Bank, Dingle.
Police can link firearms to previous shootings by examining markings on any bullet fragments recovered from the scene.
Merseyside Police regularly works with the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) to identify guns used in criminal shootings.
Detective Inspector John Mullen from the Firearms Investigations Team, said: “Every weapon we seize makes our communities safer, and this gun was stored with ammunition, which could have been used to cause serious harm. We will now conduct forensic work to establish if this is a weapon which has been used before and who has had it in their possession.
"If you have any information on this or other weapons, do the right thing and come forward immediately, as what you know could remove dangerous people and their weapons from the streets of Merseyside."
Anyone with information on the storage or use of firearms is asked to contact @MerPolCC on Twitter or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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