Youngsters brandish guns in vile gang YouTube video

Oct 24 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

TWO months after 11-year-old Rhys Jones was tragically shot dead, youngsters from Liverpool are still glorifying gang violence and gun crime in shocking videos posted on internet websites.

The latest, posted on YouTube this week, shows members of Walton’s City Road gang showing off their arsenal of weapons – including different guns, knives, samurai swords, knuckle dusters and pit bull terriers – to a rap music background track.

After discovering the video, the Daily Post alerted Merseyside police. After reviewing the footage, they have now vowed to identify the individuals featured in the film and bring them to justice.

Last night those responsible for the two-minute video clip were condemned for posting it on the site and accused of glamorising gang violence and gun crime.

Merseyside police and Paula Ogunboro of Mothers Against Guns called for the owners of the YouTube site, Google, to act responsibly and remove the footage immediately to halt the possibility of more of the city’s teenagers being recruited into a life of crime.

Mrs Ogunboro, whose son Eugene, 25, was shot at a party in Toxteth in 2003, said she was horrified by the footage and how blatantly the youths in the clip flaunted the weapons they possess.

She said: “I think that this is disgusting and shouldn’t be allowed.

“It must be taken off the internet straight away as neither those who posted it on the site, or those who host the site, realise that they are glamorising gun culture and violence to others.

“As a mother who has lost a son to gun crime I am devastated by this and other victim’s mothers will feel the same. It is sick.

“These are illegal weapons that for all we know could have been used to commit crimes and they are in the possession of children.

“The fact that there is music behind the images shows that it is being glamorised and is just encouraging children to look at the video and get involved.”

Once one of the most feared and brutal gangsters in Britain, 47- year-old Stephen French said he was shocked that such footage was still being produced, particularly in the light of the killing of Rhys Jones, an innocent victim in rival gang crossfire.

French, who in his book The Devil claims he has now turned his back on his former criminal life, said: “What is going on with these youth gangs at the moment is wrong.

“These so-called respect killings are ludicrous. There is no respect in killing.

“It is not glamorous and must not be glamorised or promoted by any internet site.”

Superintendent Steve Ashley of Merseyside Police said: “We will review the content of the video to try and identify the individuals featured and ultimately bring them to justice.

“I would also urge anyone who knows these individuals to contact their local police station on 0151 709 6010.”

A Google spokesperson said: “YouTube has clear terms of use – and we have simple community guidelines that users must agree to when they upload a video.

“If users are concerned about a certain video on our site they can flag it – and we then review it.

If we decide that it has broken our terms of use we remove it as quickly as possible.”

* SEE an edited clip from the video at www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk from noon today.

YouTube violent videos still the centre of police crackdowns

THIS is not the first time internet website YouTube has been at the centre of a police crackdown.

In July the Daily Post revealed a Wirral teenager had uploaded videos showing youngsters performing dangerous and violent stunts.

Officers had already shut down a website which hosted similar footage, called Live Now Die Later run by 18-year-old Michael Davies from Rock Ferry, amid fears they could influence other children to film copycat stunts. Police also called for five more videos to be removed from YouTube.

But last night dozens of similar videos bearing the Live Now Die Later (LNDL) label were still available on the website, as well as videos of the Norris Green and Croxteth gangs which have been implicated in the murder of Rhys Jones.

The Home Office states it can be illegal to upload violent footage on to the internet, but to date no-one has been prosecuted for such an offence.

But Dr Stephanie Petrie at the University of Liverpool said sites like this which show violent footage were setting a bad example to today’s youths.

She said: “More and more children are being attracted to this sort of behaviour.”.

carolineinnes