Security guard jailed over guns

A 49-year-old security guard who stored guns for loyalist paramilitaries has been jailed for two and a half years.

The judge said the sentence was to deter others from providing safe houses for terrorists.

The police discovered two sub machineguns, a replica pistol, rifle and over 450 bullets in the bedroom of Robert Beggs's Ritchie Street home in north Belfast in March following a tip-off.

The judge at Belfast Crown Court said it was "the usual scenario of the vulnerable being used to screen the thugs".

However, he added that people must be resilient to the pressures of paramilitaries to keep weapons.

The judge described Beggs's guilty plea as evidence of remorse and a clear realisation on his part that what he did was wrong.