Loyalist gun man given five years

Steven Moffat, 45, was jailed after an automatic pistol and live ammunition were found at his home in Buckhaven, Fife, in February.

At an earlier hearing, Moffat also admitted being a member of the banned loyalist organisation, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

The judge Lord Macphail said Moffat had "sinister" intentions.

"The circumstances in which the pistol and ammunition were in your possession were sinister"
Lord Macphail

The court had previously heard that Moffat had family connections in Northern Ireland.

He had originally denied membership of the banned organisation but when detectives drew attention to the UDA tattoo on his arm he admitted he had been asked to join in a Belfast pub three years earlier.

Sentencing Moffat, Lord Macphail said: "The circumstances in which the pistol and ammunition were in your possession were sinister and sinister also was your intention in possessing them - your intention clearly was to assist a person or persons concerned with terrorist purposes.

"I have in mind the fact that you are to be sentenced on the basis that you were keeping all these items for other people, and that you are a first offender.

"But those who involve themselves in the possession of articles for terrorist purposes, even if only as minders or caretakers, must expect to receive substantial sentences."

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