Bolton gun-hoarder jailed over 'Aladdin's cave' of firearms

30 December 2009

A BOLTON man who hoarded firearms, including a home-made cannon, has been jailed for five years.

Roy Bennett (71), of Horwich, Bolton, was living at the time in a farm cottage near Rochdale.

At Bolton Crown Court last week, he pleaded guilty to nine firearms offences. He was jailed for five years.

He had a firearms licence for rifles, but police became aware that illegal guns and ammunition might be found at the address.

In March 2009, Rochdale CID officers searched Bennett's home. They found over 50 firearms were found, including a home-made cannon with accessories, unlicensed rifles and a shotgun.

Bennett pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing a shortened shotgun without a certificate, three counts of possessing a small firearm, two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon, and possessing ammunition without a certificate.

He built the small cannon himself. Police were alerted about it after he fired it at a local gun club.

Bennett said he had found one of the shotguns in the attic of the house when he moved in.

He had bought another shotgun at a car-boot sale for a mere £1, he added. It was being sold as “a cigarette lighter”.

Possessing an illegal firearm carries a five-year prison sentence, except in exceptional circumstances. Judge Lindsey Kushner said she could not find any exceptional circumstances in the case.

Detective Constable Mark Boon of Force Intelligence Branch said that officers had been “stunned when they came across an Aladdin's cave of weaponry”.

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