Police launch inquiry into BBC's Panorama after 'teenager was paid to brandish guns while being filmed'
Police yesterday launched an investigation into the BBC's flagship Panorama programme over allegations that a teenager was paid to brandish guns while being filmed.
Producers allegedly hired a 'fixer' who paid £50 to the 17-year-old to pose with a shotgun, handgun and ammunition for a report on Merseyside gangs.
The allegations were made public in court last week after the teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, was convicted for possessing firearms. He will be sentenced on January 23.
After Panorama: Young Gunmen was broadcast last June, Merseyside Police were assured by BBC producers that nobody had been paid to pose with guns.
But last night a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: 'We are carrying out a further investigation to find out if these transactions did happen and to identify the people involved. We will be contacting the BBC.'
A BBC spokeswoman said: 'If any payments were made to the gunman, we had no knowledge of them.'
Panorama: Young Gunmen revealed that Liverpool gangs were arming children as young as nine with pistols and assault rifles.
One gang member claimed he had been shot in the leg at the age of 12, and others told how they had turf wars with a rival gang who lived just a few hundred yards away.
The teenager on trial was shown in the documentary wearing a ski-mask and hood and holding a sawn-off shotgun.
He showed how to load a pistol and said: 'I take no s***. If the beef [police] come down here they get blasted.'
Jason Smith, who defended the youth at Liverpool Crown Court last week, said: 'The contention is not that he was paid money directly by the Panorama film producers, but that he was paid by an intermediary who had been paid to fix it on their behalf.
Police yesterday launched an investigation into the BBC's flagship Panorama programme over allegations that a teenager was paid to brandish guns while being filmed.
Producers allegedly hired a 'fixer' who paid £50 to the 17-year-old to pose with a shotgun, handgun and ammunition for a report on Merseyside gangs.
The allegations were made public in court last week after the teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, was convicted for possessing firearms. He will be sentenced on January 23.
After Panorama: Young Gunmen was broadcast last June, Merseyside Police were assured by BBC producers that nobody had been paid to pose with guns.
But last night a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: 'We are carrying out a further investigation to find out if these transactions did happen and to identify the people involved. We will be contacting the BBC.'
A BBC spokeswoman said: 'If any payments were made to the gunman, we had no knowledge of them.'
Panorama: Young Gunmen revealed that Liverpool gangs were arming children as young as nine with pistols and assault rifles.
One gang member claimed he had been shot in the leg at the age of 12, and others told how they had turf wars with a rival gang who lived just a few hundred yards away.
The teenager on trial was shown in the documentary wearing a ski-mask and hood and holding a sawn-off shotgun.
He showed how to load a pistol and said: 'I take no s***. If the beef [police] come down here they get blasted.'
Jason Smith, who defended the youth at Liverpool Crown Court last week, said: 'The contention is not that he was paid money directly by the Panorama film producers, but that he was paid by an intermediary who had been paid to fix it on their behalf.
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