TWO men have been jailed after a police pursuit in West Yorkshire led to the recovery of a re- activated handgun and a double- barrelled shotgun.
Traffic patrol officers tried to stop a high-powered Subaru car being driven by Ryan Lynch after it was seen on the wrong side of the road in Huddersfield a year ago.
But Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday how the 21-year-old drove "like a madman" and undertook another motorist on Bradford Road by mounting the pavement.
Prosecutor Ken Green said the car was eventually abandoned by Lynch and his friend Thomas Patrice in the Eleanor Street area of Huddersfield, but the two men were later found hiding in nearby yards.
After their arrests officers found the shotgun, which was wrapped in a coat, and the self-loading pistol in the yard where Patrice had been hiding.
Mr Green told Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC that tests on both weapons revealed that they were capable of firing ammunition.
He said the Czech-made pistol had previously been de-activated, but it had been re-activated again by adapting the barrel and firing mechanism.
Neither of the men made any comment when they were questioned by police, but In December 23-year-old Patrice, of Dewhurst Road, Fartown, pleaded guilty to possessing the weapons on the basis that he was going to dispose of them on behalf of someone else.
Lynch, of Deighton Road, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was found guilty after a trial of possessing the shotgun.
Patrice, who had previous convictions for robbery, was yesterday jailed for five years and Lynch, who had two convictions for dangerous driving on his record, was locked up for 30 months.
Lynch was also banned from driving again for three years even though the court heard he was already subject to a ban which will only be lifted when he passes a mandatory extended test.
Passing sentence Judge Durham Hall told Patrice that he would have been justified in imposing a sentence which exceeded the minimum term.
