News from the UK.

A FATHER and son who were caught with a vintage Smith and Wesson pistol and stored it in a Tranmere storage unit have been sent to prison for a total of three years.

Philip Williams hid the 100-year-old weapon in a lock-up in Oakenholt, Flintshire, Wales and claimed he forgotten about it after unearthing it in a crate he was left to look after by an unknown farm worker.

But Mold Crown Court heard he moved the gun around to another storage unit in Tranmere and painted the handle to prevent it from rusting.

Meanwhile his son, Daniel Williams, posed for a selfie holding the gun on one of the two occasions he came into contact with it.

Possession of a firearm carries a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment, but the Judge Niclas Parry heard arguments for exceptional circumstances in both cases and reduced the men’s jail terms.

He jailed Philip Williams, 64, for two years while Daniel Williams, 34, received a one-year custodial sentence.

He told the pair: “It must be understood that the rationale and reason for what appears to be harsh sentences is due to the need to deter gun culture and the use of guns.”

Williams Snr said he did not own the Smith and Wesson and it fell into his arms after he agreed to look after some crates for a man he knew only as “Patrick” who worked at a farm in Bodfari where he was living at the time.

He claimed it was only after when he learnt that the man had died while on holiday when he discovered the weapon buried in one of the crates given to him by Patrick.

But instead of handing it over to the police, he kept it for two-and-a-half years, storing it in a lock-up in Tranmere before then moving it to the unit at Oakenholt, police paid a visit on March 10 last year.

Barrister Michael Whitty, prosecuting, said police executed a search warrant at a unit at Pandy Garage after receiving information and found the 0.22 calibre gun wrapped in a tea towel hidden under the wheel arch of a caravan.

Since it’s a hundred years old and a .22, I’m guessing it’s a revolver.  So two men went to prison for a total of three years for having a .22 S&W wheel gun.

“It must be understood that the rationale and reason for what appears to be harsh sentences is due to the need to deter gun culture and the use of guns.”

Because, you know, Pakistani child grooming gangs are okay with the crown, but you can’t have guns.  That might be a danger – to the elitists.