Man's gun excuse rejected by judge (From Swindon Advertiser)

Man's gun excuse rejected by judge

12:00pm Monday 8th February 2010 in

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A man who was caught with a sawn-off shotgun claimed he had found it in woods when he went to relieve himself.

Thomas Gregory said he stumbled across the weapon in a small copse close to Barbury Castle when he was out walking with his mum.

And the 26-year-old said they had put it in the boot of her BMW and were heading for the police station to hand it in when he was arrested minutes later.

But a judge sitting at Swindon Crown Court found against him, ruling he knew what he was doing when he went to the isolated spot to get the gun.

He heard that police were watching Gregory, whom they believed was involved in drugs and weapons, as he went to the rural lane to collect the illicit gun.

Gregory, of Church Place, pleaded guilty to possessing the altered firearm without a certificate but insisted he was about to take it to the police to hand in. He said he had turned his life around since he was last in jail, getting married last year and having a job. In the past he had been involved in drugs and violence.

On the day of the find he told the court he had been going to get some steroids from Paul Baxendale.

Gregory said Mr Baxendale lived close to Barbury Castle, having moved from his previous home in Savill Crescent, Wroughton.

As his mum drove him there they saw his supplier, who was also a training partner, going the other way in his people carrier. Using his mum’s mobile he phoned his pal, who said he would be back in an hour so Gregory and his mum Sharon decided to go for a walk nearby.

He said after a while he needed to urinate so went into some bushes out of his mum’s sight and spotted the gun bound up in plastic wrapping.

Intrigued by what he had found he took the weapon back to the car and said he discussed what he had found with his mum, who insisted they should take it to the police.

He said at first he was excited and wanted to keep it but his mum insisted they should hand it in. But the defendant was being watched by an undercover police surveillance team.

An officer who was watching him told how he went straight to the boot of the car and did not speak to his mother before shutting away the gun.

He also said Gregory went deep into a copse to get the weapon and had not just ducked in far enough to cover himself as he had claimed.

Finding against Gregory, Judge Douglas Field said it was a case of circumstantial evidence, but was strong enough for him to be sure.

He ruled “He wasn’t there just wasting an hour. He didn’t find the weapon just by chance.”

He added “I find that he did not come across it by chance and I find that he was not immediately going to take it to the police station.”

But he went on to say the poor condition of the weapon, which was rusted and took a great deal of care to be put back into working order by an expert, was also relevant.

He said “There is no evidence he (Gregory) had anything to do with the weapon before he came across it.”

The judge remanded Gregory in custody and adjourned the case to Thursday March 11 when he will be sentenced.

Gregory faces a mandatory five-year jail term unless the judge feels it would be unjust.