Weapons being used in the war in Ukraine are likely to fuel gun crime on the streets of Merseyside in the coming years.
Paul James, founder of the National Ballistics Intelligence Service, said millions of weapons currently in use in Ukraine could circulate when the conflict ends. Mr James said the Balkans conflict had been the main source of guns being trafficked into Europe since the 1990s, but warned the Ukrainian situation is going to be "much worse".
Mr James told BBC North West Tonight: "From experience, over the last 15 to 20 years, the guns from the Western Balkans have been the main source of firearms trafficked into Europe. They have been used in a lot of very high-profile crime and terrorist incidents, and we're still trying to reduce the flow of firearms from there.
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"I think the situation in Ukraine is going to be much worse than that." Mr James added Merseyside had long been a key area for criminals to acquire guns, with the weapons used to "enable a lot of the organised crime in the Merseyside area".
There were five gun murders in Merseyside last year, including three in an awful period of seven days in August. Sam Rimmer was gunned down while standing with friends on Lavrock Bank, Dingle, while council worker Ashley Dale was killed in the back garden of her Old Swan home just days later. Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead in her home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, the following day by drug dealer Thomas Cashman.
The cowardly child killer refused to return to the dock to be sentenced. He was jailed for 42 years in his absence. Nan Jackie Rutter was shot at her Moreton home in October, while beautician Elle Edwards was shot outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey while celebrating Christmas Eve with her friends.
The ECHO recently revealed Mr Rimmer, Ms Dale and Ms Edwards were all shot by Skorpion machine pistols. The gun, described as "military weaponry" by Assistant Chief Constable Mark Kameen, has been used in hits across the country.
But ACC Kameen added "Merseyside criminals seem to either be at the forefront or very close to it around their involvement" in the distribution of the weapons". Before then the weapon of choice for organised crime groups throughout the UK and in Merseyside was handguns.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said: "I am concerned about the type of weaponry that we're seeing on the streets of Merseyside. It is frightening in terms of the way those Skorpion weapons work. Let's face it, people aren't going out and being trained on how to use those weapons.
"I think we are seeing the impact of those weapons on the streets of Merseyside. We know they have been used eight times over the past two years, but there is also really positive work ongoing. In Merseyside alone, we have seized five Skorpion type firearms in the past two years.
"This is a UK-wide problem and we are working really closely with the National Crime Agency (NCA) to identify how those weapons entered the UK, who has possession of them and identifying where they are and recovering them."
Merseyside Police is working in collaboration with the NCA to remove the weapons off the streets and in recent weeks have recovered several weapons, including a Skorpion. ACC Kameen also told the ECHO police have "multiple linked series weapons" and officers are "doing a host of work to track them, identify them and build conspiracies about them".
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