A DERBY man has been jailed for five years for possessing a gun which was used to kill a man.
Police found the weapon, ammunition and more than £13,000 of stolen goods in the garden shed and outhouse of Everton Bailey's Littleover home.
Warwick Crown Court was told the 53-year-old Tesco worker was stopped by police loading black bags into his car.
When they challenged him, he said "come on it's only orange juice" before giving them a false address.
He claimed the items had been dropped off and that he was just picking them up.
But when his true address, Alexandra Gardens, was discovered they went there and conducted a search.
Inside the two garden buildings, they found goods stolen from Tesco worth a total of £13,716, including "crate upon crate of wine, champagne and other drink" all stolen from the distribution centre where he worked in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
And on one shelf was a box in which the police found an airgun which had been modified to fire live bullets and fitted with a crude silencer.
Also in the box was a bag containing five illegal hollow-point bullets designed to expand on impact.
In interview, Bailey said he was unaware the gun had been used in the killing of 37-year-old David Gower, in Warwickshire, in July 2011.
Jennifer Josephs, prosecuting, said police pulled Bailey over in July 2012.
She said: "When the defendant was interviewed he said that someone had put the box in the shed, and that he did not know it contained the gun, but made no comment about the thefts.
"He entered his (guilty) plea on the basis that he was looking after the gun for someone else and had not been aware of or involved in its use in any previous crime.
"Nine other people were accused of being involved in the killing of Mr Gower, who was shot by mistake in an armed raid in Bulkington, north Warwickshire.
"It took place at the home of his close friend Luigi Prota, who was said to have been the intended target.
"But all nine have since been acquitted."
Bailey pleaded guilty to possessing the gun and five rounds of hollow-point ammunition
He was also given a concurrent three-month sentence for the theft from Tesco, which he had also admitted.
Bailey, who had worked at the Tesco distribution centre for five years, accepted he had been stealing goods from the company for two years prior to his arrest.
Miss Josephs added that Bailey had previous convictions, but the most recent was in 1999 when he had been jailed for 11 years for drug smuggling.
Andrew Peet, for Bailey, said his client had indicated that he would have been willing to be a prosecution witness in the trial, but his offer was not taken up.
Jailing Bailey, Judge Marten Coates said: "The law requires I pass a minimum sentence of five years on you, and I cannot give you any discount for your co-operation or your plea.
"For those reasons I pass three months for the Tesco matter, but concurrent."
