Ammunition recovered in church grounds

More than 300 live rounds of ammunition were recovered in Kirkby yesterday, Monday 3 February.

Officers executed a land search following intelligence received from members of the community and found the ammunition being stored in a holdall in the grounds of St Mary Mother of God RC Church on Kennelwood Avenue.

Community members may well have noticed an increase in police at this location during the search.

The ammunition has been seized for forensic examination and early investigations have identified that it was recently stolen from an area outside of Merseyside. Officers are working with the investigation team to identify those involved.

Chief Inspector Philip Mullally said: “We would like to thank members of the public for being the eyes and ears of the community and providing vital information that assisted the police in recovery of this potentially lethal ammunition and will undoubtedly prevent further firearms offences from being committed.

“Every bit of information we receive, no matter how small, is vital to our operations in finding the individuals responsible for storing and using ammunition and firearms.

“We recently searched the grounds of St Chads Church in Kirkby and some community members expressed concern about officers searching such an area of land, given the sensitivity of the location. Yesterday’s recovery within the grounds of a church shows the importance of searching areas of open land regardless of where this may be. This recovery will prevent further firearms offences being committed on the streets of Merseyside.”

Anyone with information on where firearms are being stored is asked to contact Merseyside Police via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police CC, on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information. In an emergency, always call 999.