AN antiques collector has been spared jail for unlawfully possessing a gun after he handed it in to police who missed it during a search of his home.
Malcolm White, who gave the Webley 0.38 revolver to officers, also admitted possessing four firearms without certificates.
Possession of this prohibited weapon without the authority of the Secretary of State usually carries a minimum jail term of five years, but Judge Jonathan Gosling ruled that there were exceptional circumstances to allow White, 50, to avoid custody.
Judge Gosling said White had been "purely negligent".
He said: "I'm in absolutely no doubt that you had no sinister reason for possession. You are undoubtedly a keen collector of firearms and ammunition.
"The law allows you to collect antiques without certificates and I believe you thought they were all covered by that. You had possessed the revolver for 10 years and you hadn't sought to alter it in any way."
Derby Crown Court heard that in June last year White "came to the attention of the police" and they searched his smallholding in Church Broughton and found a collection of firearms, parts of guns and ammunition.
Prosecutor Jeremy Janes said: "He clearly has an interest in firearms – some were purchased at gun fairs and some off the internet. Some had been converted to enable them to be fired."
He said some had originally been on display at White's home but he had then been a victim of a burglary.
Mr Janes said that when officers visited after the burglary the guns had been "quite openly" on display but, after that, "he sensibly put the guns out of the way" to not risk them getting into the wrong hands.
At the time, the officers visiting his home did not say anything about the guns.
When police went to his home again in June 2012 they took away some firearms but did not come across the revolver. White contacted them after they left to tell them about it.
White, now of Middleton Street, Derby, admitted possessing a 0.22 calibre air rifle, which was designed or adapted for use with a self-contained gas-cartridge system; a silver black powder revolver; muzzle-loading black powder percussion pistol; and a muzzle-loading rifle – without a firearms certificate.
He was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for 12 months and must do 150 hours of unpaid work.
