Woman jailed for keeping shotgun
● A ‘VULNERABLE’ mum-of-four from Runcorn who had a sawn-off shotgun hidden behind her washing machine plus ammunition at the behest of criminals has been jailed for 27 months.
At Warrington Crown Court on Friday, Joanne Marie Daniels, 44, of no fixed abode, wept from the moment she was denied bail for a short adjournment and then throughout most of the full hearing before learning her fate.
Police had first contacted Daniels at 4.30pm on June 19, 2015, at an address on Halton Road where she had been staying after officers received intelligence that she had knowledge of a firearm and had ‘concern for her safety’.
John Oates, prosecuting, said she agreed to accompany them to the police station where she gave written permission for a search of her home on Leaside in Halton Brook.
Once there she showed them a wrapped blanket containing ammunition, consisting of six Brazilian .44 inch Remington Magnum cartridges and one Israeli .45 inch ACP cartridge, for use in guns such as automatic pistols.
In the kitchen, the officer found the washing machine was out of place and felt behind it, discovering a double-barrel over-andunder hammerless sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun with the barrel cut to 22 inches.
It was so old and in such bad condition though that the officer could not break it open to check for ammunition, and resorted to poking a rod down the barrel to confirm it was empty.
Forensic examination found it was ‘theoretically’ possible to fire the weapon from one barrel but tests were not possible because the weapon was deemed ‘so unsafe’.
Daniels told police in interview a man had turned up with ammunition and a pistol and although she chased him to give them back, the cartridges stayed at the property.
Another man turned up with the shotgun and she said that although she refused to keep it, she popped upstairs and when she returned he no longer had it, and she claimed she did not realise he had hidden it.
The court heard the first man’s name was believed to be ‘Hughes’.
Daniels, who was of previous good character with no previous convictions, denied to police that she had been intimidated, Mr Oates said.
Jeremy Rawson, defending, said his client had four children who live with their father.
In addition she had cooperated with police and pleaded guilty on the day of trial.
He added that she had not been staying at the address where the items were found ‘for some time’.
Daniels, who appeared in a baggy striped cardigan, was ‘typical’ of someone picked by crooks for such a task because she was ‘under the radar’ and due to her ‘ordinariness’, Mr Rawson added, going onto say it was not her who hid the shotgun and ammunition.
He added that she accepted it was ‘wrong’ and the items ‘would have been used for nefarious activity’.
His Honour Judge Nicholas Woodward, presiding, accepted she was of prior good character and was ‘vulnerable due to her mental health issues’ but said she was ‘clearly minding these items on behalf of criminals’.
The court heard the maximum possible prison term was seven years, and the judge declined Mr Rawson’s appeal for a suspended sentence.
Sending her down, Judge Woodward said: “You have pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a certificate and possession of ammunition without a certificate: the gun in fact, albeit of poor quality, is a sawn-off shotgun; the ammunition, six .44 Magnum cartridges and one .45 cartridge.
“While I accept you are a person of good character with vulnerabilities due to your mental health, that the shotgun was in a poor condition – all of these are relevant.
“The important feature is you were clearly minding these items on behalf of a criminal or criminals and as such the court has to take a very firm line.”