The Metropolitan Police have been appealing for people across England and Wales to give in any unwanted guns, weaponry and ammunition during a two-week campaign, due to end on Sunday.

The initiative was set up to tackle rising gun crime and target illegal holiday souvenir stun guns and pepper sprays bought on the internet.

Reverend Christopher Parkes from Burntwood Methodist Church in Birmingham was inspired to participate in the initiative to ensure the guns “didn’t get into the hands of criminals.” 

The starting pistols had been stored in the church safe for at least 12 years and only used by the drama group.

In a video shared by the West Midlands Police, Mr Parkes said: “I heard that there was a surrender taking place in Birmingham for guns and replica guns. So we’ve taken the opportunity to bring these along so they don’t get into the hands of criminals or other people where they can be used for the wrong purposes. Taking them off the streets and out of circulation, we thought, was the best thing.”

#GUNSURRENDER | Reverend Christopher Parkes from Burntwood Methodist Church has just surrendered four starting pistols which had been in the Church’s safe for years. That’s another 4 life like guns out of circulation so unable to get into the hands of the wrong people. @NABIS_UK pic.twitter.com/i1y21tHC25

— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) August 1, 2019

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It was an underdog victory for rapper Marcus Gray, a relatively obscure artist once known as Flame whose five-year-old lawsuit survived constant court challenges and a trial against top-flight lawyers for Perry and the five other music-industry heavyweights who wrote her song.

The amount was less than the nearly 20 million dollars (£16.5 million) sought by lawyers for Gray and his two co-writers on the 2009 song Joyful Noise, but they said they were pleased with the decision.

“These defendants have made millions and millions of dollars from their infringement of the plaintiff’s copyright,” Gray’s lawyer Michael A Kahn told the jury.

Perry herself was hit for just over 550,000 dollars (£457,000), with Capitol Records responsible for the vast majority of the money.

Defence lawyers had argued for an award of about 360,000 dollars (£297,000) after the jury decided earlier this week that Dark Horse copied Joyful Noise.

Perry’s lawyer Christine Lepera said they planned to vigorously fight the decision.

“The writers of Dark Horse consider this a travesty of justice,” she said.

Both sides agree that Perry herself made a profit of 2.4 million dollars (£2 million), while Gray’s lawyers argued that her song had grossed about 41 million dollars (£34 million). The pop star testified at the beginning of the trial but has not been in court since.

Because the rhythmic…