Merseyside police chief says his officers are 'stretched' trying to stop a sharp rise in gun crime

The Chief Constable of Merseyside says his officers are stretched trying to stop a sharp rise in gun crime.

A spate of shootings, the worst in five years, has left one man dead and four others injured in the last month alone.

The chief constable says recent cuts and a wall of silence in some communities means they're failing to keep criminals on the back foot.

Merseyside correspondent Andy Bonner reports:

Andy Cooke was the first commander of Merseyside's anti-gun crime unit, Matrix and now he's Chief Constable.

He's been telling us why there's been such a significant rise in gun crime: