Sleepy Sydenham Hill was home to Britain's biggest illegal gun factory. Two men converted nearly 600 replica guns into the real thing at a Mountacre Close flat and stored at two nearby lock up garages.

The men were caught in possession of Walther PPK pistols during an Operation Trident raid in Rotherhithe. They were jailed at the Old Bailey in September 2004 for six years. The Judge was jeered by one of the men, Stephen Herbert, who thanked him for such a lenient sentence.

Sadly for him - the Attorney General agreed and the CPS challenged the sentence. Now the sentences have been extended by three years to nine years each.

Sources: The Sctsman, South London Press & WaltherAmerica.com 29/04/05

Three men were convicted of counterfeiting over 5,000 videocassettes of hardcore pornography and selling them on for four years through their three unlicensed sex shops - one of which was in Sydenham Road - and laundering the proceeds.

They were fined £350,000 on April 22 at Wood Green Crown Court as a result of a joint investigation by the Mtropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unitand the Obscene Publications Team.

Sources: This is London 29/04/05