Guilty: Rogue gun dealer who supplied pistol used to murder Poplar man
Edmunds will be sentenced next month. Picture credit: West Midlands Police - Credit: Archant
A rogue firearms dealer has been found guilty today of supplying illegal handguns and home-made bullets linked to more than 100 crimes including the murder of a man from Poplar.
Hassan Isman Omer from Poplar was shot dead on Boxing Day 2013. Picture: Met Police. - Credit: Archant
Paul Edmunds, 66, imported a Colt pistol used to kill Hassan Mohamed Omer Isman who was shot dead in West End club Avalon on Boxing Day in 2013.
Two men stood trial for the murder of the 31-year-old and were found not guilty.
Edmunds also supplied ammunition used in two other killings and an attempt to shoot down a police helicopter.
A jury at Birmingham Crown Court heard Edmunds, from Hardwicke, Gloucestershire, was arrested at his home in 2015, where he had three armouries and made bullets to fit antique weapons.
The registered gun dealer was found guilty of conspiracy to supply firearms and ammunition and smuggling banned Colt handguns into the UK from the United States.
Dr Mohinder Surdhar, who acted as Edmunds’ middle man, admitted conspiracy to supply firearms and ammunition between 2009 and 2015 before his trial.
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Edmunds’ barrister acknowledged that the gun-dealer faces a sentence of at least 25 years when both men are sentenced on December 20.
After being asked to consider a sentence giving the pensioner “some hope” for the future given his age, Judge Richard Bond cited the case of a 101-year-old man he jailed for 13 years in December last year.
