Jury out in 'gun kit' case

William, left, and Mitchell Greenwood deny selling gun "kits"

Jurors are spending a fourth day considering their verdicts on whether a father and son supplied kits to reactivate used guns.

William Greenwood, 76, and Mitchell Greenwood, 42, are accused of selling AK-47 rifles, Uzi sub-machine guns and pistols.

The men, of Catchills Farm, South Wingfield, Derbyshire, owned an antiques shop in nearby Long Eaton.

Both men deny conspiracy to convert deactivated firearms into live weapons.

The jury of seven women and four men, reduced to 11 after one juror was discharged, was told at 1230 GMT it could now consider majority verdicts.

The court heard that no decisions had been reached by the jury and Judge Alison Hampton asked jurors to retire to continue their deliberations.

Lethal weapons

Witnesses, including men jailed for gun crime offences, told police they had bought legal weapons deactivated under Home Office legislation from the men.

But they said they had also purchased the equipment required to convert the items into working firearms.

Prosecuting at Derby Crown Court, Anthony Russell QC, earlier told jurors: "The allegation is that the defendants would supply a deactivated firearm and a kit, enabling the purchaser to reactivate the guns and to circumvent legislation that prevents people from holding such firearms.

"These included self-loading pistols and sub-machine guns, which had the potential to be lethal weapons."

In evidence, witnesses who acted as middlemen said they had been offered expert advice by the Greenwoods on how to reactivate handguns and rifles, which they did before selling the weapons on to known criminals.

Jurors heard the Greenwoods claim they legally sold all the items and had never offered customers advice on reactivating the guns, instead reminding them of current gun legislation.

The jury went out to consider its verdicts on Wednesday.