Tourist is jailed for bringing in gun gifts for friends

A HOLIDAYMAKER who thought he would get “a slap on the wrist” if he was caught bringing stun guns into the country has been jailed for five years.

A judge rejected a plea there were exceptional circumstances that would allow Niall Dinsmore to escape the minimum prison term for such a firearms offence.

Lord Boyd of Duncansby told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “With regret I have concluded there are no exceptional circumstances in your case.”

Dinsmore, 28, was caught with five stun guns disguised as torches and five batons after he arrived at Edinburgh Airport from a break in Bulgaria.

The judge was told Dinsmore planned to keep one of the stun guns and give others away to friends and relatives.

Lord Boyd said: “You intended, on your account, to gift a stun gun and a baton to a chosen few. Together these weapons are of considerable potency.”

The judge said Dinsmore, of Bansbridge, Northern Ireland, would have been putting the weapons beyond his control and could not know where they would have ended up.

Lord Boyd said that while Dinsmore did not appreciate the seriousness of what he was doing he knew it was wrong.

Dinsmore earlier admitted being illegally in possession of disguised firearms and being in possession of offensive weapons, the batons.

He was held at the airport on August 31 last year as he returned from holiday with his girlfriend Kerri Luff, from Dundee.

Prosecutor Shirley McKenna said: “He thought he would get a slap on the wrist if caught.”