The pistols are imported and distributed by the Birmingham-based company Brocock, which makes the air cartridge system that powers the air gun pellets. Brocock said in a statement: "Both the police ...

They fire small pellets using a compressed air charge contained in each cartridge. But criminals have been fitting steel sleeves inside the chamber, enabling .22 calibre bullets to be fired.

Brocock has performed well financially and the most recent complete accounts it has filed, for 1999, show it made a gross profit of more than £500,000 on a turnover of nearly £2 million, up from ...

Knight, a former firearms certificate holder, was charged in April with eight offences relating to possessing five prohibited Brocock firearms, an unlicensed Baikal shotgun, two overpowered air ...

They operate using a system where the airgun pellet and a charge of air to propel it are contained in a single cartridge. The law defines them as "self-contained gas cartridge guns", with most bearing ...