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The arrogant son of a loving Christian couple who fled London's gang world has been jailed for 12 years for having a sawn-off shotgun in Kent.
Jeffrey Acheampong's church-going parents had left the capital to start a new life in Ashford away from "the corrosive gang and gun culture".
But the 24-year-old failed to take advantage of the chance of a new start and became embroiled in the seedy and dangerous underworld.
He arranged through contacts to get hold of the illegal weapon – which was then loaded – intending to sort out a conflict with a rival.
Ashford K College student Acheampong, of Swaffer Way, denied possessing the 12-bore single-barreled weapon with intent to endanger life – but was convicted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court.
At his trial in September he accused police of planting the deadly weapon, but his groundless accusations were rejected.
Judge Simon James told him: "You set out to obtain a firearm and your contacts within the criminal world were such that you were able to obtain a fully-working and loaded sawn-off shotgun.
"This prohibited weapon, which can have no lawful purpose, was seized from you after you were arrested on a weekday morning in a quiet residential street in Ashford.
"It was loaded with a live cartridge and was ready and able to be discharged."
The court heard Acheampong's mobile phone was seized and forensically examined – and detectives discovered text messages.
They showed he had the gun, intending to use it on February 11 on a gang rival – although exactly what he was planning was never revealed during the trial.
The judge said the weapon was not used thanks to the "timely and brave intervention" of police officers.
"Mercifully, you were intercepted before you were able to use it before you reached your intended victim..." - Judge Simon James
During the hearing, Acheampong refused to answer any questions about his friends and where his money came from within the criminal fraternity.
The judge added: "Mercifully, you were intercepted before you were able to use it before you reached your intended victim.
"The gravity of gun crime cannot be exaggerated. Guns kill, maim, terrorise and intimidate – and this is why criminals are so desperate to get their hands on them."
Judge James added the prevalence of illegally-held weapons is "a matter of genuine public concern".
"I must have regard to the potentially devastating effects which the use of weapons has on society as a whole. And the courts have repeatedly stated that deterrent and punitive sentences are demanded."
Undercover officers were watching Acheampong's home in February and saw him leave with a dark blue satchel walking along Garden Way towards the driving school near Kirk View.
He was later seen along Tithe Barn Lane and Buxford Lane, where police officers approached him and ordered him to stop but the student ran away along a footpath and into Homestead where he was seen to throw his bag over the fence.
The jury heard police officers recovered the bag and discovered the weapon inside.
Acheampong claimed he had been on his way to college and was only carrying books.
The court heard Acheampong came from a "loving and supporting and hard-working family". His parents are "regular church-goers" and the judge added he had sympathy for them.
The judge told him: "Your parents made a quite deliberate decision to move from south London to Kent and away from the potentially corrosive gang and gun culture that prevails in areas near to where you were brought up.
"For some reason you were unwilling or unable to take the opportunity to make a new start.
"You have shown absolutely no remorse and your arrogance was demonstrated by your claim during the trial – without a shred of justification – that you had been deliberately framed and the gun had been planted on you by police.
"It was a defence of last resort and was a lie from start to finish."
The operation was led by the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident gang crime command unit.
DC Lee Baron said: "This is yet another example of Op Trident's commitment to investigate the illegal possession of firearms and to bringing to book those that believe they can act with impunity within this area of criminality."
A 24-year-old London woman was found not guilty of possessing or transferring a prohibited firearm, a 12-bore sawn-off shot gun. She had denied the offence.
