A 60-year-old man has avoided jail after the drug dealers selling him heroin stashed a sawn-off shotgun in his house.
Police found the shotgun and a Glock semi-automatic pistol at the home of Richard Stubbs, now of Tottington Street, Manchester, in November 2020 after obtaining a search warrant.
Manchester Crown Court heard today (November 21) that Stubbs, who was in the grip of a heroin addiction at the time, had known about the guns, put there by his dealers, but was ‘too terrified’ to report them to the police.
Prosecuting barrister Eric Lamb told the court that police attended Stubbs’ then home on Mallory Walk in Wythenshawe on November 13 2020 to execute a search warrant.
“During the search, police recovered a bag inside his wardrobe,” Mr Lamb told the court. “Inside was a sawn-off shotgun wrapped in a pair of jeans.
“There were cartridges inside the gun and it was in working order, containing suitable cartridges. The defendant’s DNA was found in the material of the jeans the gun was wrapped in, and also on the stock of the gun.”
Stubbs was arrested and admitted to police in an interview the following day that there was another firearm at his property. “He explained that he had moved another firearm from inside the property to his garden,” Mr Lamb said.
Officers returned and found a Glock semi-automatic pistol in the garden. At further interviews, Stubbs ‘accepted’ that he had known the guns were in his home – but that they were put there ‘without his knowledge’.
“It is accepted that he had a drug addiction,” said Mr Lamb. “He previously knew and associated with the people that put the guns there.
“These were people who visited his house to sell him drugs. They forced him to keep these guns. When he became aware of them, he feared for his safety if he objected.”
The court heard that Stubbs is 60 years old with 12 previous convictions for 25 offences, but none relating to firearms, and the most recent one dating back to 1999. His defence lawyer Stella Hayden did not address the court.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Lawton acknowledged the offences were five years old. “Such offences attract a minimum term of five years, unless the court is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances,” he said. “I find these in this case.
“One factor is the delay you faced. You were not charged for two years despite these clearly being viable weapons.
“Secondly, you volunteered the presence of the second firearm, which had been missed in the first search. This meant a weapon had been taken off the streets of Greater Manchester.
“You became a heroin addict in later life. Those who supplied you with drugs planted the firearms and you were effectively cuckooed in your house. You were too terrified of the situation to go to the police.”
Judge Lawson noted Mr Stubb’s current health issues and his criminal history, which is now ’25 years old’. “I am satisfied that the minimum term here would be disproportionate and unjust,” he concluded.
After applying credit for his guilty plea, Richard Stubbs, of Tottington Street, Manchester, was handed a suspended sentence of 24 months.
He was also ordered to carry out ten days of rehabilitation activity and a drug rehabilitation requirement ‘to reinforce the progress [he had] already made’.
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