A TOOTHILL man has been jailed for 16 months after he was found with a loaded gun hidden in a false fireplace in his home.

But Thomas Kennedy escaped a mandatory five-year term for having a prohibited weapon because he was charged under a different section of the leglislation covering the Firearms Act.

The 31-year-old also had heroin and cannabis in his home.

The starting pistol had been modified to fire adapted .22 bullets one of which was already loaded in the gun's chamber.

Prosecutor Tim Hills said police raided Kennedy's home on Edington Close during the afternoon of March 4.

He said: "In the living room there was what appears to be a false fireplace made of plasterboard and timber attached to the wall.

It had a base made of slate which could be removed.

"Officers investigated and found the slate base could be removed.

"Behind it was a cavity and this weapon was found in the cavity."

The gun was found to be an Italian-made starter pistol, he said, which had three rounds in the magazine.

He said that a weapons expert tested the gun and ammunition and found that the cartridges could be fired and used as a weapon.

Mr Hills said that officers also found heroin worth about £80 stored in a bag in a pot of dietary supplements in Kennedy's bedroom.

And £330 worth of cannabis stored in a cavity at the rear of a toilet.

In a safe in the bedroom officers also found three £1,000 rolls of notes, as well as a further £320 in loose notes.

Mr Hills said that Kennedy did not work or claim benefits though his partner was employed as a hairdresser.

When he was questioned Kennedy told the police that he had been given the gun to dispose of and had forgotten it was there.

He said the drugs were for his personal use and he had earned money by buying and selling items he got from Reading as well as fencing stolen goods.

Kennedy, of Edington Close, Toothill, admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition without a certificate and possession of heroin and cannabis.

Rob Ross, defending, said that there was no evidence to suggest Kennedy had ever touched the gun let alone used it at any time.

"About one year ago someone he came into contact with, someone who came to his house and wanted to leave something there," he said.

While Kennedy saw it he had no idea what sort of weapon it was.

He thought it may have been broken and then forgot all about it.

The drugs were for his own use and some of the money had been saved from when he worked at the BMW factgoy last year.

Jailing him, Judge Charles Wade said: "It had been modified to make it a lethal weapon with some ammunition capable of being fired by it.

"There seems little doubt you had gone to some trouble to conceal the firearm and drugs by concealing them in your house."

He also ordered the firearm and drugs are forfeited and destroyed.

A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will be held at a future date as the Crown try to recover the money found.

Jamie Hill