Man (51) pleads guilty to importing two air rifles

Andrew John Elliott, of Mont du Ouaisné, St Brelade, also pleaded guilty to importing the rifles to the Island nine years ago and never applying for a licence to have them.

Legal adviser Advocate Darry Robinson said that the police attended the defendant’s home on 16 May to make inquiries on another matter and noticed the two rifles. They took away a BSA Lightning rifle and a Daystate Harrier rifle and, after checks were made, the defendant was arrested.

The court heard that the defendant bought the weapons 20 years ago and he had had them in Jersey for about nine years.

Advocate Nicholas Le Quesne, defending Elliott, said that the defendant had brought the air rifles with him when he moved to Jersey nine years ago from Wales and he was not aware that he needed a licence.

In asking the court to consider jurisdiction, Advocate Robinson said that possession of the weapons carried a possible statutory penalty of five years in jail. In relation to the importation, he said that there was a maximum sentence of seven years. However, Advocate Robinson accepted that there was no evidence that the air rifles had been used in Jersey and ‘there was no suggestion of mal-intent’.

The Magistrate, Bridget Shaw, said the lower court would accept jurisdiction and ordered the preparation of a social inquiry report to assist with sentencing. She adjourned the case until 14 June.

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