Crawshawbooth housing worker had sawn-off shotgun

8:20am Friday 29th August 2008

AN ELECTRICIAN who stashed away a sawn-off shotgun and cartridges at the home he shared with his estranged wife and her little boy is facing jail.

David Edward Dennis Church, 39, was arrested when his former partner called police after their relationship fell apart and they discovered the shortened shotgun in two parts in a holdall at the property.

Church, who works for Housing Pendle, claimed he had got the gun whilst working on a house clearance in Oxfordshire where he used to live.

He said he had intended to hand it in during the next amnesty in the Oxford area.

The defendant, of North View, Crawshawbooth, admitted possessing a shortened shotgun on June 22, last year.

He was committed on bail to Burnley Crown Court to be sentenced on October 3, after the bench said their powers of punishment were insufficient.

The justices, who had been told there could be no legal use for a sawn -off shotgun, said the case was aggravated by the fact the gun was in a residential property with a child living there and there were cartridges.

But, they added, Church had not taken the weapon into a public place, it had not been used and he was of previous good character.

Ella Anderson, prosecuting, told the court one part of the shortened gun was the barrel and the other the stock.

Church admitted possessing it and said he had been given it in its shortened state by an elderly man in Oxfordshire.

He told police he did have a licence for other shotguns and had never fired it.

Gareth Jones, defending, said Church formerly worked on house clearances in Oxford, had a full firearms licence and took custody of some air pistols.

He kept them locked up in a gun cabinet they were stored in.

He later looked through the cabinet and found one of the weapons was a shortened shotgun.

Mr Jones added: "He didn't know any police officers in this area and felt if he took a shortened shotgun into a police station in an area where nobody knew him he would be arrested and put to trouble.

"He also knew he couldn't keep the gun."

The solicitor told the court the defendant kept the gun locked in an attic but he had put it in the holdall with the cartridges to take to Oxford to be disposed of.

Mr Jones said the relationship between Church and his estranged wife deteriorated considerably and she rang the police, knowing full well what would happen.

He added: "Perhaps this was the final twist of the knife to condemn the relationship, as it were."

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