The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Gunsmith in secret illegal weapons deal gets six years
Court: Biggest ever haul of firearms
A firearms dealer who helped supply the biggest hoard of illegal weapons ever uncovered in the UK has been jailed for six years.
Police found 463 illegal firearms, including rifles, machine guns and an antitank missile, along with 200,000 rounds of ammunition in a secret room at the home of crane operator and parish council chairman James Arnold, 49, in the village of Wyverstone, Suffolk. Arnold died of cancer before he could face prosecution but gunsmith and firearms dealer An- thony Buckland, 65, of Stoke Holy Cross, Norfolk, who supplied a small number of the weapons, faced a trial late last year. He was found guilty of 11 counts of s elling a prohibited weapon and nine counts of fraud at Norwich Crown Court.
Jailing him on Friday, Judge Stephen Holt said: “When the police searched Jim Arnold’s home they found a vast collection in a secret room which could only be accessed by crawling through a safe.
“But you are to be sentenced for what the jury convicted you of and not the vast collection of firearms that Mr Arnold had.”
Afterwards Suffolk Police spoke of the potentially devastating consequences had Arnold's life spiralled out of control or if the haul – enough to arm nine coachloads of terrorists – had fallen into the wrong hands. Detective Superintendent Steve Mattin said: “Of course, the fear was that they could fall into the wrong hands or, given that he had terminal cancer, something might change in his life and he would have access to hundreds of deadly weapons.”
Police originally called at Arnold’s home in April 2014 to revoke his legally held firearms after reports of a domestic incident.
A search then uncovered a hidden room, accessed through a narrow tunnel hidden behind a false wall in his pantry.