A MAN has been jailed for five years for possession of two firearms, which a judge said “had the capability of killing two people”.

Brendan Thompson, 38, of Festival Avenue, Shipley, was given a five-year prison sentence in Bradford Crown Court on Friday for two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition - charges which stemmed from an incident committed in August 2019.

Crown prosecutor Katherine Robinson said Thompson’s possession of the weapons after police were called to Thompson’s address on August 26, 2019.

Ms Robinson said: “In the aftermath of a domestic argument, his partner revealed he had adapted a blank firearm into a proper shooter.”

She said while in custody, Thompson had told police: “I don’t know what they mean, I only got a BB gun.”

But further investigation revealed the weapons had been hidden in the HGV cab of a person he knew.

Ms Robinson said: “A search at the scene revealed the firearms and ammunition.”

One of the weapons was a pistol, originally made to fire blanks, but was adapted to fire live ammunition. The adaption of the weapon showed the chamber was “partially obstructed”.

The other weapon was a pistol which had been modified to fire 8mm cartridges of ammunition, which was also discovered at the scene.

Ms Robinson said Thompson's DNA was found on both firearms, and he had claimed that he was going to use one of the weapons to “shoot rats in his garden”.

In handing down a sentence to Thompson, Recorder Andrew Smith said: “It is not clear if the defendant had any intent to use them in criminality, but these are dangerous weapons and if they got in the wrong hands, they would be lethal.

“The reasons are beyond me why you would be in possession of these two weapons, but they would be attractive to somebody who wants to use them to commit criminal offences.

“If loaded, they would have the capability of killing two people.

“You drilled out the barrel of one, and there was a partial blockage, which not only would have hurt the person it was pointed at but also could have blown up in the user’s face.”

Recorder Smith said the starting point for the offences was a seven-year prison term, but a guilty plea reduced the sentence by 20 per cent.

He reduced it by a further seven months to five years in prison by taking into account that the sentence has taken place four years after the incident.

Thompson must also pay a court surcharge.