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Dwayne Dinnall

26 year old Dwayne Dinnall from Rainham Road South in Dagenham pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court.

He was caught after being searched by police at the tube station in early June, during an operation to clamp down on anti social behaviour. Officers saw him hesitate when he saw uniformed officers at the barriers.

Police searched his bag and found a 7 inch steel kitchen knife before discovering the gas-powered gun wrapped in black cloth. Officers also found cannabis and a black mask, like those worn by cyclists, in the bag. Dinnall was immediately arrested and taken into custody for questioning.

The gun found in Dinnall's bag

When passing Dinnall鈥檚 sentence at Southwark Crown Court today, His Honour Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said:听 鈥淚t is terrifying that people can be in possession of these weapons at Tube stations.

鈥淵ou [Dinnall] also had other objects on your person and it is difficult to imagine them being carried for innocent purposes.鈥�

Speaking outside court, Detective Constable Oliver Carne, the investigating officer, said:

鈥淚t was Dinnall鈥檚 alarmed reaction to seeing uniformed officers at the station exit barriers that first aroused the officers鈥� suspicions.

The knife found in Dinnall's bag

鈥淚 hope the 5 year jail sentence handed down to Dinnall today sends out the clearest possible message that the consequences for those who are found to have weapons on the railway are severe.

鈥淲hile weapons-related crime is rare on the Tube, we have been focusing for some time on reducing the carriage of weapons on the network.

鈥淭he large majority of people use the Tube to go about their daily business, but we want to make sure that anyone who has any other intentions knows what they can expect from us, especially if they try to carry weapons on the railway.鈥�