Sponsored by
Man jailed over shotgun in wardrobe
A Wigan man who was found to have a sawn-off double barrel shotgun hidden in his wardrobe has been jailed for two years.
Stuart Brown had claimed that the 70-year-old weapon was an antique which he wanted to display on his bedroom wall along with two swords and daggers but a jury rejected his claim.
He said he had thought it was an imitation and was a sort of Pirates of the Caribbean prop.
He was convicted of possessing a prohibited weapon and faced a mandatory five-year jail term but Judge Gerald Clifton decided that there were exceptional circumstances and imposed two years.
He told 28-year-old Brown that the weapon was "a potent and lethal weapon even if of some vintage.
"You were keeping a potentially lethal firearm which could have been used against human beings."
Liverpool Crown Court heard that police raided his parents' home in Comet Road, Marsh Green, where Brown lives on February 5 last year.
They were armed with a search warrant but not in relation to firearms.
When they searched his bedroom they found the weapon inside a bag in the wardrobe. It was in working order but there was no ammunition with it.
When questioned Brown said: "I didn't know it was real."
He said a woman had given him the gun and later told a probation officer that he had bought it off her for 10. Police inquiries did not find any links with the weapon and unsolved crimes, said Stephen Kemp, prosecuting.
Steven Swift, defending, said that Brown had not displayed the weapon because he was fearful of his father and his attitude to guns.
The court heard that Brown, who has no previous convictions, suffers from depression, anxiety, agoraphobia and post traumatic stress disorder following a serious burning incident 10 years ago.
There are worries about his mental health if jailed, said Mr Swift.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Wigan
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
