Suspect named after gun found stashed in Nike bag in cemetery

A man has been charged after a gun was found stashed inside a Nike bag in a cemetery.

The semi-automatic handgun was found inside a Nike bag along with rounds of ammunition among gravestones in West Derby Cemetery, on Lower House Lane, at around 1.15pm on October 18 2022. The gun was later forensically tested to see if it had been used to shoot nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Dovecot on August 22.

It was also tested to see if it was linked to the murders of Sam Rimmer, who was shot in Dingle on August 16, or Ashley Dale, who was killed in Old Swan on August 21. Merseyside Police confirmed five days after the discovery the gun was not linked to any of the force's ongoing murder investigations.

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However, Merseyside Police said it was being considered a "linked series firearm", meaning it had been used in previous shootings - although it has not been stated which specific incidents.

Curtis Roberts, 29 and of HMP Berwyn, will appear before magistrates today charged with possession of a prohibited weapon. The charge sheet states the item in question is a Glock Gen4 self-loading pistol.

In August last year, Mark Latham, of Hurlingham Road in Walton, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate in connection with the cemetery discovery. Charge sheets state that these items were a Glock Gen4 pistol and 15 9x19 Parabellum rounds.

Merseyside Police officers swarmed to the cemetery following the discovery and cordoned off hundreds of gravestones. Images later taken by the ECHO showed forensic officers kneeling down on the ground next to a plot of graves with a number of evidence bags. The weapon was later analysed by the National Ballistic Intelligence Service.

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