farelmeson: Weapons haul was 'like an armed robber's toolkit'

Monday, February 7, 2011

Weapons haul was 'like an armed robber's toolkit' – armoury fanatic jailed

A WEAPONS fanatic with a lethal "armed robber's toolkit" of guns, knives and nearly 100 bullets hidden in his bedroom has been jailed.

Raymond Catley, 51, claimed his collection of 13 specialist weapons and 99 bullets was due to his interest in armoury.

Police found the items at his home after executing a search warrant, along with lots of literature on guns, body armour and steroids.

Catley, of Corbridge Close, Greatfield Estate, Hull, has been jailed for two years after Judge David Tremberg said: "There was a shotgun in working order capable of delivering lethal force and a substantial quantity of live ammunition.

"You had no intention of using any of these items in connection with any ulterior criminal behaviour.

"You do have a previous conviction going back many years for possessing an offensive weapon but, as can be seen by the haul of weapons recovered, you clearly continue to have an interest in weapons of offence."

The police found a club, a sword, a pick axe handle, a point of Catherine wheel covered in blades, a metal bar, a knuckle duster, five knives, a chopper, body armour and books on guns.

The weapons were hidden underneath his bed and others were screwed into the floor of his wardrobe.

Catley had a Cooey M84 12 gauge sawn-off shotgun, which had illegally been altered to shorten it to 18.5". There were 95 rounds of 9mm full metal jacket bullets recovered and four rounds of 9mm expanding ammunition, where the bullets had been hollowed out which, if used, would create more collateral damage.

Prosecutor Philip Evans said: "Although it looked like an armed robber's toolkit, there was no evidence that the defendant or anyone else had ever used these in the commission of crime."

Catley had worked in a slaughter house and his barrister Jeremy Lindsay said: "He had never used them, but had simply looked at them and was ashamed at having hidden them in the way that he had.

"He had accumulated the knives from work. This is a man you will never see before the court again. "

Judge Tremberg said Catley knew the weapons were illegal and he took the risk of going to prison.

He said: "Your desire to possess them was so powerful as to override the risk of going to prison for their possession.

"In my judgment, you must understand that anybody contemplating behaviour such as this must know that if you choose to store lethal firearms such as sawn-off shotguns and live ammunition at your home address, you are going to get locked up because such offending is so serious only custodial a sentence is suitable for it."