Jail for Leeds Man Found with Loaded Handgun

Wednesday 24 October 2012

A Leeds man found with a loaded handgun and over £7,000 pounds of class B drugs has been sentenced to seven and a half years in jail.

Delroy Ferguson (26) of Louis Street, Chapeltown, pleaded guilty to possessing the automatic pistol but said he had found the drugs in a neighbour's garden.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court did not believe Ferguson's account and found him guilty of possession with intent to supply class B drugs.

Acting on information from the public, officers from West Yorkshire Police's Crime Division raided Ferguson's house on 9th August this year as part of a warrant served under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

In the main bedroom of the terraced house police found a bag under Ferguson's bed containing a Browning handgun with a bullet ready to fire in its chamber. Along with the weapon police also uncovered a silencer for the firearm and five 9mm bullets.

In a separate bag officers found 13 smaller packages of a white powder which was later identified as class B controlled drug Methlenedioxpyrovalerone (MPDV). This is a stimulant type drug with an estimated street value of around £7, 220.00 pounds for 361 grams recovered.

Detective Inspector Jaz Khan, from West Yorkshire Police's Crime Division, welcomed the sentence and said:

"I am pleased with the conviction which reflects the intrinsic link between drugs and firearms.

"Recovering weapons with live ammunition is rare and I would like to take this opportunity to reassure local people that tackling firearm related crime remains a very high priority for us and today's conviction should act as a demonstration of the work we are achieving in this area."