Suspended sentence for County Derry man who imported 48 blank firing pistols

A man who imported 48 blank firing pistols has been given a suspended sentence at Derry Crown Court today.

Nathan Stephen Paul (32) of Glenshane Road in Magherafelt admitted possessing prohibited items on dates between December 22, 2019 and December 31 the same year.

The court heard that an intelligence led investigation by the National Crime Agency led the to the purchase of the blank firing weapons from a company in Spain by the defendant.

The court heard that there was no attempt to conceal the purchase. 

After getting the weapons Paul resold some of them even after he was warned that they may be illegal in this country. 

After police searched and found some of the weapons the court heard that they missed some and the defendant had brought these to police himself. 

A prosecution barrister said that they accepted the weapons were legal in Spain. Passing sentence Judge Neil Rafferty KC said that these weapons were capable of being modified by people who knew how. 

He accepted that Paul was not involved with any 'organised crime gang' and had sold the weapons purely for financial gain.

The judge said that the defendant had 'got out of his depth' and imposed a sentence of two and a half years in prison suspended for three years.