Two men were facing jail sentences today after police found two banned handguns when they responded to reports of shots being fired in an Aberdeenshire village.
Officers turned up at Richard Robinson’s home in Crimond on a Sunday evening after gunshots were heard at the address.
They found Robinson and Callum Williamson in the cottage on Logie Road and saw a gift bag lying on the living room floor containing bullets and an antique Colt Derringer.
Robinson, 39, and Williamson,22, who lived at a nearby house, were arrested and officers found a second gun and further ammunition in a shoebox behind a sofa in the living room.
The shoebox contained 43 cartridges, six of which had been fired. A further spent round was found on a patio at the rear of the cottage.
Advocate depute Craig Murray told the High Court in Edinburgh: “At Fraserburgh police office at about 22.00 hours the accused Robinson said that when the police arrived he had hidden a Colt 45 under the sofa of the living room and that it was loaded because he had been shooting it and had been shooting guns that day.”
Robinson also stated that above or on the radiator in the living room there would be a bullet hole.
“That bullet hole was found by police officers,” the prosecutor added.
Fired bullet heads were found in the living room and a bedroom at the property.
Gunshot residue found on clothing
The court heard that gunshot residue (GSR) was found on the clothing of both Robinson and Williamson and Mr Murray said: “The GSR found on each of the accused’s clothing came from discharging firearms at the scene.”
Robinson’s DNA was found on the shoebox containing a Colt 1911 pistol and ammunition and DNA and fingerprints from Williamson were discovered on the gift bag containing the American-made Derringer.
Mr Murray said the Derringer could be classified as an “antique firearm” and therefore exempt from firearm certificate control if it was kept as a “curiosity or ornament”.
But the prosecutor added: “It was not being held for those purposes at the time of the offences.”
It was in good condition and in working order and was therefore a prohibited weapon. The Colt pistol was also a prohibited weapon.
Williamson and Robinson both admitted recklessly discharging a firearm, the Colt 1911 pistol, at Logie Road, Crimond, on October 1 last year within the address and into a wooded area at the rear of the property to the danger of the public.
Williamson also admitted breaching the firearms act by possessing a prohibited weapon, the Derringer.
Robinson pleaded guilty to breaching the legislation by possessing the prohibited Colt pistol and ammunition.
The judge, Lord Mulholland, called for background reports to be prepared on them and told them they would be sentenced on June 13 at the High Court in Aberdeen.
Lord Mulholland ordered the forfeiture of the guns and ammunition recovered from the address.
