Boasting teen gun thug jailed thanks to video on his own phone

A teenage thug has been jailed for three years after police found boasting videos of him dancing around his house and posing with a gun. Ashirie Smith, then aged 17, was rumbled by the damning clips on his mobile phone after officers raided his house in Handsworth, Birmingham.

The footage showed the balaclava-clad gunman skipping and dancing around while waving the firearm and posing for the camera. West Midlands Police said the force received intelligence that Smith may have been keeping a firearm at his house on Brays Road last November.

Dramatic body-cam footage shows armed cops swooping at the address where they found the weapon, a Walther pistol loaded with five 9mm bullets. Smith, now 18, was arrested and officers later found the incriminating videos on his mobile phone. He went on to admit possession of a firearm and ammunition and was jailed for three years at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday.

Detective Constable James Cox, from the Regional Organised Crime Unit for the West Midlands, said: “Ashirie Smith is well-known to police and has links to gangs and criminality in Birmingham. The videos we recovered from his phone after his arrest show just how much he relished in that lifestyle and it’s believed he filmed them to boast to friends and associates about his access to firearms.

“That criminal lifestyle has resulted in our officers forcing their way into his home in the middle of the night and him being arrested at gunpoint. I’d urge anyone tempted by that lifestyle to pause and think of the implications for them and their loved ones. We are absolutely committed to tackling gun crime in the West Midlands, and those involved in it can expect arrest, conviction and jail.”