Steven Mace
06-11-2002, 05:28 PM
Brentwood: Gun dealer jailed for arms haul
An underworld armourer from Brentwood has been jailed for a total of nine years at the Old Bailey after he was caught with one of the largest arsenals seized in Britain.
Robert Hills, 47, was once a legitimate gun dealer and had supplied arms for 14 Hollywood films.
His stash of firearms and explosives were discovered after he was caught selling a Yugoslavian Army-issue machine gun to an antiques dealer at a farmhouse in Thundersley, owned by broker Leslie Wassell.
The buyer James Love along with Wassell and Steven Franks and Arthur Vale were all sentenced to five years imprisonment for buying the gun.
"It was the largest seizure of high-powered weaponry police have ever made in London," said Det Chief Supt John Coles, head of Scotland Yard's serious and organised crime command.
Actor Bill Murray of Brentwood, giving character evidence, told the court he had known Wassell for 30 years and described him as "an excellent friend".
Hills was given six years for selling the machine gun, and three years concurrent for selling the ammunition.
He was also given two years concurrent for every charge of possessing a weapon, or components. Wassell, Vale, Love and Franks were each given five years for buying the gun and three years concurrent for the ammunition.
Published Tuesday, June 11, 2002
http://www.thisisessex.co.uk/essex/news/NEWS9.html
Steve Mace
An underworld armourer from Brentwood has been jailed for a total of nine years at the Old Bailey after he was caught with one of the largest arsenals seized in Britain.
Robert Hills, 47, was once a legitimate gun dealer and had supplied arms for 14 Hollywood films.
His stash of firearms and explosives were discovered after he was caught selling a Yugoslavian Army-issue machine gun to an antiques dealer at a farmhouse in Thundersley, owned by broker Leslie Wassell.
The buyer James Love along with Wassell and Steven Franks and Arthur Vale were all sentenced to five years imprisonment for buying the gun.
"It was the largest seizure of high-powered weaponry police have ever made in London," said Det Chief Supt John Coles, head of Scotland Yard's serious and organised crime command.
Actor Bill Murray of Brentwood, giving character evidence, told the court he had known Wassell for 30 years and described him as "an excellent friend".
Hills was given six years for selling the machine gun, and three years concurrent for selling the ammunition.
He was also given two years concurrent for every charge of possessing a weapon, or components. Wassell, Vale, Love and Franks were each given five years for buying the gun and three years concurrent for the ammunition.
Published Tuesday, June 11, 2002
http://www.thisisessex.co.uk/essex/news/NEWS9.html
Steve Mace