The submachine guns made by Grant Wilkinson are linked to some of Britain's most serious crimes, including the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky.

Operating from his gun factory in Berkshire, Wilkinson supplied the converted Mac-10 guns to the criminal underworld in London for three years.

This in turn fuelled a surge in Mac-10 shootings, particularly in the capital, with the adapted weapons used in murders as recently as last month.

They have been used in 52 shootings across the UK since 2004. Almost all of those attacks took place in London and among them were eight gangland murders.

Perhaps the best-known crime linked to Wilkinson's racket was the murder of PC Beshenivsky in Bradford on November 18, 2005. Although she was not killed by one of these guns, one was fired at the scene.

The racket was also linked to the fatal shooting of Michael Dosunmu on February 2, 2007, as he lay in bed in Peckham, south-east London, by two men targeting his brother in a gang feud over the proceeds from security van robberies.

On November 4, 2005, music producer Richard Holmes, 21, was shot dead outside a community centre in Chingford, east London. Anthony Green, 35, and Carl Dobson, 23, were convicted of the murder.

Jason Greene, 29, was ambushed by gunmen who shot him dead in front of his children in his car on July 18, 2006, in Wembley, north west London. Gang member Christopher Toussaint-Collins, 19, was convicted of murder.

On October 20, 2006, Antoine Smith, 24, was shot dead by two attackers on bicycles in an alleyway shooting in south-west London. Two teenagers acquitted of murder.

Jamail Newton, 19, was shot dead outside a nightclub in Camberwell Green, south London, by two gunmen armed with Mac-10s on November 1, 2006. One of the weapons in this crime was also used to kill Mr Smith ten days earlier.

On October 2, 2007, Robel Tewelde, 21, was shot dead with a Mac-10 in a south London stairwell. Jermaine Callum, 18, was convicted of murder.

Daniel Denis, 26, suffered fatal head wounds when he was hit by a hail of bullets in his BMW car in west London by a gunman in another car on September 18, 2007. There is a £20,000 reward for information leading to his killers.

And on July 27, 2008 Curtis Smith, 36, was shot at least six times outside Red nightclub in Cable Street, Limehouse, east London.

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