A serving Kent prisoner helped run a lucrative gun trading racket... from his prison cell.

Ishmael Brown was part of a network of illegal gun traders who sourced deactivated weapons - including an AK47 style rifle - and then sold them on for reactivating.

Brown, 26 - an inmate in Rochester prison- was jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons.

It was said he used an illicit mobile phone in his cell to source deactivated weapons and organise for them to be sold on to the criminal underworld.

His girlfriend Caitlin Adams, of Lewisham, was responsible for collecting the guns and delivering them to a workshop to be reactivated.

A fellow Rochester prisoner, Ehsen Abdul-Razak, 19, was also found to be using a phone to help Brown source the weapons.

He also admitted to conspiracy to transfer prohibited weapons and was sentenced to five years.

Harrow Crown Court heard the crime was discovered when officers stopped a minicab in Newham on June 16 last year.

Passengers were removed from the vehicle and a reactivated 9mm self-loading pistol was found in the footwell.

Further investigations led to a workshop where a metalworker reactivated the weapons.

In the six months between January and June 2015, more than 40 firearms, including an AK47 style assault rifle, were sourced by the group.

DC Claire Gentles, the officer in the case for the Trident and Area Crime Command, said: "The firearms and ammunition this gang converted had the potential to cause great harm on the streets of London."

Detective Inspector James Hale, from the Trident and Area Crime Command, said: "This was a complex investigation targeting criminals both inside and outside of prison as part of the Met’s fight against gang and gun crime.

"We successfully collaborated with our colleagues in the prison service to recover the mobile phones and I would like to pay tribute to my detectives who have worked tirelessly to make communities safer and see this case to its successful conclusion."