Man jailed over ‘broken gun’
A ‘VULNERABLE’ man found with a ‘broken gun’ jumped out of a window after armed police burst into a house.
Specialist officers went to a property on Tweedale Street in Salford with a search warrant to look for firearms.
Trevor Hindes, 25, was in the house with others, when a woman answered the door.
An officer saw Hindes and another man run out of the building and through an open ground floor window.
The other man, who was not charged with any offences, was caught trying to climb over a fence. Hindes was also apprehended soon after as he threw a black rucksack over a fence. The bag was found to contain a revolver handgun with a silver barrel.
When arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm, Hindes asked ‘what gun?’
The rucksack also contained five ammunition cartridges. Experts found that the gun was not viable in its current condition. It needed ‘extensive repairs’ for it to be able to fire, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Defending, Stuart Duke said that Hindes ‘never had the intention of using it offensively.’ Hindes, described by Mr Duke as a ‘rather vulnerable character’ with mental health problems, had been asked to look after it, the barrister said.
“He was told it was a broken gun. He took it and that’s what he thought it was,” Mr Duke said.
“He shouldn’t have had it, he accepts it is a serious offence.”
Hindes, of no fixed address, has previous convictions for robbery and drugs supply.
Offences of possessing a prohibited firearm lead to minimum sentences of five years under the law, unless a judge rules there are exceptional circumstances.
Mr Duke appealed for Hindes to receive fewer than five years because of the state of the gun, which was also about 30 years old.
But Judge Richard Mansell QC rejected the argument, saying that those with more expertise in firearms could have converted it back into a lethal firearm.
He was therefore jailed for five years, after pleading guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate.