BIGGEST HAUL OF WEAPONS EVER SEIZED IN OUR COUNTY
GUN FANATIC GETS 10 YEARS’ JAIL FOR ILLEGAL ARSENAL IN BEDROOM
A FIREARMS fanatic caught with the largest arsenal of weapons ever seized in Leicestershire has been jailed, writes Suzy Gibson.
Stephen MacMahon, right, secretly hoarded more than 150 illegal items, including ammunition, in a bedroom at his home.
Leicester Crown Court heard it was “the largest arsenal of weapons seized in the county.”
A FIREARMS fanatic was caught with the largest arsenal ever seized in Leicestershire.
Stephen MacMahon secretly kept the illegal stash of more than 150 items, including guns and ammunition, in the bedroom of his home at The Oval, Coalville.
He admitted 33 offences, relating to a wide range of weapons and ammunition, the most serious being a pump action shotgun.
The arsenal included rifles and pistols, some designed to fire rubber bullets or balls, as well as disguised stun guns and Tasers.
The unemployed collector, aged 47, was said to be fascinated with police and military artefacts.
The collection, which took 15 years to amass, was said to have included items obtained online via the dark web.
It was discovered in his locked bedroom during a police search at his home on April 17 last year.
MacMahon’s late father was a police officer in Essex and his sister is a serving officer in the East Midlands.
MacMahon, who has no previous convictions, was jailed for 10 years.
Katya Saudek, prosecuting, said: “It’s the largest arsenal seized in the county, greater than the combined amount seized by Leicestershire and Lincolnshire police forces over the course of a year.”
‘SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY’
Miss Saudek said the police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home due to suspicious internet activity.
She said: “When he opened the door, MacMahon said it wasn’t ‘convenient’ to let them in as his mother had recently died.
“Officers found an upstairs bedroom door was locked. He said he didn’t have a key.”
The defendant then lied, saying it was his deceased father’s study and he had not been in the room for three years.
Miss Saudek said: “A locksmith drilled out the lock, which was a high-security, insurance-rated lock designed for outside doors.
As they waited, MacMahon told the police they might find “a bit of Army re-enactment stuff”, but that he didn’t know what the investigation was all about as there were no firearms, although there might be a BB gun.
He also said someone may have been using his internet details as he knew nothing about online orders being placed in America.
150 ILLEGAL ITEMS
Miss Saudek said: “There were in excess of 150 illegal items found within the room.
“The wide variety of weapons included mainly blank-firing weapons, revolvers, pistols, stun guns, a wide range of bullets and other ammunition that would fit those weapons.”
The prosecutor said there were newspaper cuttings from 2019 as well as the order of service leaflet from his mother’s funeral from three weeks before - contradicting his claim not to have entered the room for several years.
There were instructions on how to make a chlorine pipe-bomb, a US improvised munitions pamphlet and a document headed “How would you react to a terror attack?”
THE DARK WEB
The prosecutor said there was evidence the defendant had sought to acquire weapons via the dark web and e-mails contained discussions about recent and forthcoming purchases of weapons.
In one he had sought to falsely persuade a seller that he did not need a firearms certificate in an aborted negotiation.
The defendant’s parents’ firearms certificate, relating to two lawfully-held family heirloom shotguns, was revoked in January 2018 when his mother went into hospital and the police confiscated them.
The defendant unsuccessfully tried to reinstate the certificate to get the shotguns back.
Miss Saudek said MacMahon’s sister, a police officer, said she had “a difficult relationship” with him and had stopped visiting the family home, although she was able to tell investigators the room in which the weapons were found was her brother’s bedroom, and she knew it had a lock on it.
It was not suggested she was aware of the arsenal inside the house.
The court also heard that the sister was taking civil proceedings against MacMahon in relation to alleged misappropriation of £200,000 of their parents’ assets.
The prosecutor said that the defendant had previously applied to join the police, but was not accepted, even as a special constable.
He formerly held “low-paid jobs” but was unemployed at the time of his arrest, although had been a carer for his mother, in receipt of a carer’s allowance.
The weaponry collection was said to be worth “many thousands of pounds.”
‘REAL DANGER OF FIREARMS FALLING INTO WRONG HANDS’
Miss Saudek said: “He would have been a prime target for a burglary
which, potentially, would have armed a large number of criminals. The potential risk to the community is an aggravating feature.
“The real danger was of these firearms falling into the wrong hands, with all the dangers of that inherent situation.
“Some receipts matched items not found in the house, suggestive they must be somewhere else, possibly in a lock-up, rather than being transferred or sold on to criminals.
“Many of the weapons were for use with rubber bullets, but could also have been converted.”
MACHETES AND KNIVES
Some stun guns were disguised as other objects such as an Apple iPhone, a knuckle-duster and a police baton and others had pepper sprays incorporated.
There were other prohibited weapons such as machetes and butterfly knives.
In 2016 the defendant had sought to purchase Glock items to add to his collection.
Miss Saudek said: “He clearly had a longstanding obsession involving a sustained period of illegal activity.
“Being an enthusiastic collector doesn’t amount to exceptional circumstances (for a lesser sentence) in this case.”
‘HE HAD A FASCINATION WITH ALL THINGS MILITARY’
Stephen Newcombe, mitigating, said: “The one thing MacMahon wants to advance is to put some perspective on the type of weapons he had in his possession behind that locked door.”
He said that apart from the pump-action shotgun - which was a family heirloom brought over from Ireland many years ago by relatives - most of the guns were designed to fire rubber bullets, while other items were designed to discharge irritant gas or spray, and there were blank-firing pistols with the capacity to fire flares.
Mr Newcombe said: “No-one wants to be hit with a rubber ball, we know from experience in Northern Ireland there’s a possibility they can kill if fired at short range.”
He said the weapons were mainly “low velocity” and did not represent the same kind of danger as conventional pistols and rifles.
Mr Newcombe said: “I don’t suggest it was acceptable or in order for him to have those guns in his possession, but there’s a world of difference between this defendant and someone who possesses genuine firearms.
“Although it’s the biggest haul of weapons in the county, I ask Your Honour to take into account the nature of the weapons.
“The CS gas canisters and Tasers had standard cartridges, very much the type the police would use.
“They were never fired, never sold, never taken out of the property – they were for him to look at purely as a collector.
“He had a fascination with the police and all things military.”
Mr Newcombe said many of the items were legally possessed by citizens in other countries that had been obtained by mail order.
WHAT THE JUDGE SAID
Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “The weapons were accumulated over many years and related to an obsession connected to the police and military over a long time, about 14 or 15 years.
“I’ve read a lot about this defendant including psychiatric reports and references.
“It’s not suggested he acquired a very large quantity of weapons for some sort of sinister purpose, he was plainly obsessive with longstanding mental health issues.
“He collected these items for his own fascination and showed a determination and persistence in acquiring the weapons that he did.
“It’s said he used the dark web to seek and obtain weapons... it was to do with his all-consuming obsession.
The judge said the defendant was not legally classed as a dangerous offender and added: “The gravity of the offending is said to be the creation of a risk to others, should the weapons fall into the hands of criminals.
“Mr Newcombe says the weapons were held securely, but had his accumulation of weapons become known about, a determined attack on the premises could have secured the weapons and they would have been distributed.
“The pump action shotgun was seemingly acquired by a different route, it seems to have been in the family’s possession that came into his possession after the death of his parents.
“There’s evidence some of the weapons, that were capable of discharging rubber bullets or rubber balls, could be adapted so they were capable of firing real bullets; that may have been difficult and would have caused a risk to those discharging the weapons.
“But there was a risk they would have been adapted to fire something more serious; projectiles rather than rubber bullets.
“There was no legitimate reason for Mr MacMahon to acquire the weaponry he did.
“It may be some of it wasn’t capable of inflicting lethal force and it may have been difficult to convert them. He knew perfectly well it wasn’t legitimate.”