There is little doubt that it is shocking for a young mum to hide a deadly weapon under her baby’s cot, yet fourteen years is too harsh a sentence.
For officers from groups like Trident, combating the problem of gun crime on our streets, the use of women as a tool to keep hold of the guns poses real issues in gathering evidence to nail those ultimately responsible.
It is for this reason that Judge Downing handed down such a severe sentence.
However, from what we know 21-year-old Kelly Kepple admitted she had the firearm as soon as the Trident officers entered her Walworth home and was not guilty of possession of ammunition.
Interestingly, almost at the same time in nearby Wandsworth a 27-year-old woman, Tahira Nelson-Warburton, was also arrested and has since been sentenced for keeping a shotgun in her wardrobe, as well as ammunition, and was given a five year jail term at the very same crown court.
The difference in sentencing should be looked at, as well as the circumstances that are seeing more and more young woman being used by dangerous gangs as the perfect way to preserve a lively underground gun culture in London.