Aberdeenshire man jailed for having home-made gun
A man who was prosecuted after contacting the police over a home-made gun escaped a minimum jail sentence of five years today.
A man who was prosecuted after contacting the police over a home-made gun escaped a minimum jail sentence of five years today.
But Raymond Panton was imprisoned for two years despite a judge holding that exceptional circumstances existed in the case.
54 year old Panton was earlier convicted of possessing prohibited weapons, two improvised shotguns, without authority at Parkhill Stores, Greens, New Deer, in Aberdeenshire, between April 4 and August 15 in 2014.
He had denied the offence along with a former co-accused, Ian Robertson (40) also of New Deer, who was acquitted following a legal submission during their trial last year.
Parliament has set a minimum sentence of five years for the crime but a court can rule that need not apply if it finds there are exceptional circumstances relating to the offence and/or the offender.
Panton's defence counsel David Moggach argued at the High Court in Edinburgh that it was such a case where it was open to the judge to make such a finding.
Lord Bannatyne said the case was "incredibly odd" and that he found exceptional circumstances were established.
Panton claimed to police that he had discovered two metal tubes in a bedroom at the farm and after looking at them realised that if slotted together shotgun cartridges could be fired.
Mr Moggach said Panton had phoned the police and co-operated as to where they might find a second weapon.
The defence counsel said: "This is a case where there are most unusual and exceptional circumstances pertaining to the facts and circumstances of the case."
He said there was no evidence of the firearm being used or intended to be used in "a criminal context".
"There were two improvised, home-made firearms found in the property that he owned, although he did not always stay there," he said.
Mr Moggach said Panton had struggled with "mental health issues" but had been assessed as currently posing a low risk.
Lord Bannatyne said: "This all resulted from him bringing the police to his house and showing them the gun. If, for no other reason, the case was incredibly odd."