‘ARMOURER’ HAD STASH OF GUNS FOR SALE TO CRIMINALS
PISTOLS PLUS LIVE ROUNDS INTENDED FOR ONWARD SALE
POLICE who searched property belonging to a drug dealer found firearms and live ammunition.
Leon Hall, 43, also known as Keon Campbell, was an “armourer”, prepared to sell guns to criminals.
Leicester Crown Court was told police found a blank firing pistol, capable of being modified into a lethal weapon, loaded with four 8mm blank rounds, plus dummy ammunition, cannabis and cocaine, during a search of Hall’s home in Cross Street, Blaby.
A pistol with 12 live rounds, a handgun barrel and two drill bits that could be used in reactivating guns were discovered in a rucksack belonging to Hall at another address in the village.
James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said: “We say this defendant was an armourer. He possessed firearms and ammunition for onward sale.
“They are likely to have ended up in the hands of criminals.”
Hall pleaded guilty to offences including possessing prohibited firearms and was jailed for 13 years and six months.
A DRUG-PEDDLING gun dealer who was caught with cocaine, cannabis and weaponry has been jailed.
Leon Hall, also known as Keon Campbell, was said to be an “armourer”, prepared to equip criminals with guns.
The police recovered an array of gunrelated items and drugs during a search of Hall’s home in Cross Street, Blaby, and a loaded handgun in an outbuilding at another address in the village.
Hall, 43, pictured, entered last-minute guilty pleas just before his Leicester Crown Court trial was due to start.
James Bide-Thomas, prosecuting, said: “We say this defendant was an armourer. He possessed firearms and ammunition for onward sale, for profit.
“They are likely to have ended up in the hands of criminals.
“He had an interest in and knowledge of the modification of weapons and ammunition into viable firearms.”
The court heard Hall had been jailed for 13 years in 2000 for jointly possessing a pump action shotgun with intent to endanger life, when the gun was fired at a car, and pursuing police by a pillion passenger on his motorbike.
The most recent offences came to light on August 13, 2019, when police stopped Hall in a car in Cooks Lane, Wigston, and found him with cannabis.
His mobile phone contained messages relating to him supplying small amounts of cocaine and cannabis deals, but also referred to him having “access to six kilos” of cannabis.
Hall had used his phone to search for equipment for reactivating deactivated guns and reusing discharged bullets.
At his home an illegal blank-firing pistol, capable of being modified into a lethal weapon, was found loaded with four 8mm blank rounds. Dummy ammunition was recovered, along with 62 grams of cannabis, with a street value of £670, 1.43 grams of cocaine, digital scales and £420 in cash.
A rucksack belonging to Hall which contained a working Spanish-made self-loading pistol, containing a magazine of 12 live 9mm rounds, was found in an outbuilding at another address.
There was also a handgun barrel and two drill bits, one 8mm and one 9mm, that could be used in reactivating guns.
The seized ammunition included 27 live rounds of various calibres, 14 shotgun cartridges, four blanks and 41 dummy rounds.
Hall admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possessing cannabis with intent to supply, possessing prohibited firearms and ammunition for sale or transfer, possessing them when prohibited (due to having previous convictions), and possessing articles (two drill bits) for use in the conversion of imitation firearms.
Andrew Fitch-Holland, mitigating, said: “There’s no evidence he’s connected to an organised crime gang or that any of the items were used in any offending. There’s no evidence he converted anything. But it’s right to say he had an unhealthy interest in firearms.”
Judge Timothy Spencer QC said: “You’ve owned up to being an armourer. They would have been supplied to serious criminals.”
Hall was jailed for 13 years and six months.