A man who hid a loaded sawn-off shotgun in a garage has been jailed.
Police investigating motorbike thefts searched a garage block in Tangmere Close in Gillingham on March 7 last year.
Inside one of the unrented properties, officers located a sawn-off shotgun loaded with a cartridge, which was wrapped inside a towel and hidden in a set of drawers
A stolen black KTM motorcycle was also seized.
Officers also located the grille to a vehicle parked nearby that was connected to Gillingham man Adam Green.
A forensic examination of the firearm and cartridge recovered Green’s DNA.
A week later, on March 14, Green, was stopped on a motorcycle in Chatham and arrested and charged.
People living along Waghorn Street and Castle Road in Chatham described seeing a “very large police presence”.
One neighbour said “officers were coming from everywhere” with around 12 armed and plain-clothed police officers, three or four police vehicles, and sniffer dogs in the area.
Green, of Tangmere Close, later appeared before Maidstone Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to the transfer of a prohibited weapon, namely the sawn-off shotgun.
Indictments of handling stolen property and possessing a firearm and ammunition whilst prohibited due to a previous conviction were ordered to lie on file.
Green has served long prison sentences previously for violence and burglary, and having disguised handguns in his possession.
He was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2005 for grievous bodily harm, assault causing actual bodily harm, aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving, and six years in 2012 for conspiracy to burgle.
He also pleaded guilty to two offences of possessing a disguised firearm, two of possessing a firearm when prohibited, and two of possessing expanding ammunition in 2017.
On Tuesday (July 1), the 37-year-old was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment.
Detective Constable Perry Wraight, of Kent Police’s serious organised crime unit, said: “It is an absolute offence to possess a sawn-off shotgun as its only possible purpose is to be used in crime.
“When our officers located the weapon with a loaded cartridge, it was vital we tracked down the person who had hidden it in the garage.
“Our enquiries proved Green had handled the weapon, and he is now starting a prison sentence.
“Medway is a safer place now he is behind bars and the shotgun has been taken out of circulation.”
