[ravsta]

A WALLASEY man, whose home was raided by police, was found to be growing cannabis and had a stolen double barrel shotgun hidden in his bedroom.

Neil Bryan claimed that he was growing the 18 cannabis plants, which had a potential street value of £9,000, for his own use and after hearing evidence a judge ruled he could not be sure that was untrue.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that the shotgun was found hidden between his wardrobe and the bedroom wall and four shotgun cartridges were found behind a picture in a room downstairs.

Bryan, 48, a passionate field sportsman, was unable to legally possess such a weapon as he was jailed for wounding in 1985.

Jailing him for 12 months Judge Nigel Gilmour, QC, said that the Spanish made firearm, which was among guns stolen from a gun cabinet at a farm in Tarporley, Cheshire, could have fallen into the wrong hands if Bryan's home had been burgled.

"No-one on Merseyside needs to be told what can happen when young men get shotguns into their hands, particularly if they also find ammunition.




"Together they would have potentially been a risk to life and limb on the streets of Merseyside," he said.

Bryan, of Gorse Crescent, Wallasey, pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun, without a certificate and cultivating cannabis.

The court heard that he had bought the gun, said to be worth between £800 and £1,500, for £100 a few weeks after it was stolen and had had it for about a year when police raided his home on September 21 last year after reports of men trying to break in.

Rowena Goode, defending, said that had started growing cannabis because he was a long term user.

Field sports had been his passion since an early age and he used to help the gamekeeper on the Leverhulme estate.


After he was jailed for wounding he contented himself with using an air rifle for shooting vermin but made a fundamental error when he bought the shotgun, which he had only used once

[Bad Penny.]

Quote

unable to legally possess such a weapon as he was jailed for wounding in 1985.

That might actually be wrong O know someone who went to nick a few times,longest stretch was I think 4 years for robbery,came out,kept his nose clean and applied for his SGC,knocked back by plod so he fought his case in a court with the help of a BASC savvy solicitor and now has several shotties and is fully legit

[SilC]

I think the solicitor added 'passionate huntsman' . Yeah if he'd applied he'd have got his vermin or game licence back but I don't believe it because he bought it with no paperwork !
Nah , you'd leave it in three pieces in a ditch somewhere if you really wanted to keep the gun ..Or have a friend keep it in his gaf .
I know someone who brought a gun to Europe before 9/11 and never took it back to the states .It's a lovely 20 guage beretta with multi chokes but it can't be licenced and has to remain hidden between rafters .Such a shame .

The Judge insulted all young Merseyside men ! ''life & limb'' "No-one on Merseyside needs to be told what can happen when young men get shotguns into their hands, particularly if they also find ammunition.''
- such a load of crap

[djembryo]

Bad Penny., on 27 May 2012 - 10:02 AM, said:

Quote

unable to legally possess such a weapon as he was jailed for wounding in 1985.

That might actually be wrong O know someone who went to nick a few times,longest stretch was I think 4 years for robbery,came out,kept his nose clean and applied for his SGC,knocked back by plod so he fought his case in a court with the help of a BASC savvy solicitor and now has several shotties and is fully legit

I think the firearms act sez if you are sentenced to less than 3yrs you have a 5yrs firearms ban and any sentence above 3 is a lifetime ban.
If I can be arsed later I will have a look for my copy of the full act n quote the relevant bits.

[mrchang]

Lucky not to get a mandatory 5 stretch.

[audioaddict]

I think the young men of Merseyside are more concerned about nobby self righteous judges to be honest.

Still, he did well not to go for an unlicensed shottie I think.