North-east man caught with home made guns jailed for two years

A man caught with two homemade guns at his north-east farm has been jailed for two years.

Raymond Panton was found guilty of having the two improvised shotguns without authority at a rural property near New Deer after a trial at the High Court in Aberdeen last year.

Such an offence usually carries a minimum jail term of five years.

But yesterday, the judge decided there were “exceptional circumstances” in the case, and imposed the lesser sentence.

Panton had the guns at the farm between April 4 and August 15 in 2014, but he was the one who alerted police.

During the trial in Aberdeen, the jury heard evidence that Panton and his co-accused – who was later acquitted – had acquired the illegal weapons after two masked robbers armed with swords raided their home.

It was said the robbers stole a hoard of cannabis plants and threatened the pair with violence.

Lord Bannatyne said the case was “incredibly odd” and that he found exceptional circumstances were established.

Imposing the two year sentence, he said: “This all resulted from him bringing the police to his house and showing them the gun. If, for no other reason, the case was incredibly odd.”