Man with gun has sentence reduced to a year (From thisisoxfordshire)

Man with gun has sentence reduced to a year

6:00pm Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News

A MAN who admitted having a starting pistol converted to fire live ammunition has had his sentence cut to one year.

Last September, Vaseem Manzoor was given a five-year sentence at Oxford Crown Court after admitting having a prohibited firearm, blank ammunition without a firearms certificate, and counterfeit money.

But on Friday his sentence was reduced after judges at the Court of Appeal agreed there were “exceptional circumstances”.

Manzoor, 36, of Badger Lane, Hinksey Hill, led police to a wardrobe in his bedroom and produced the pistol after police arrived at his home on June 6, 2012, to search the property.

The barrel of the gun had been hollowed out to make it capable of firing live rounds, although there was no evidence it had been used.

He told officers he had found it in a bag in his garden the previous week, and had picked it up to either hand it in or dispose of it – a version of events that was disputed by the Crown Prosecution Service but accepted by the crown court judge who sentenced him.

Allowing the appeal, Mrs Justice Nicola Davies said the appropriate jail term was one year.

She said: “Given the combination of factors, we are satisfied that the test of exceptional circumstances has been met in this case.”

Defence lawyers said he should not get the automatic minimum five-year sentence due to the short time he had the weapon and his co-operation with police.