A WALLASEY man, whose home was raided by police, was found to be growing cannabis and had a stolen double barrel shotgun hidden in his bedroom.

Neil Bryan claimed that he was growing the 18 cannabis plants, which had a potential street value of £9,000, for his own use and after hearing evidence a judge ruled he could not be sure that was untrue.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that the shotgun was found hidden between his wardrobe and the bedroom wall and four shotgun cartridges were found behind a picture in a room downstairs.

Bryan, 48, a passionate field sportsman, was unable to legally possess such a weapon as he was jailed for wounding in 1985.

Jailing him for 12 months Judge Nigel Gilmour, QC, said that the Spanish made firearm, which was among guns stolen from a gun cabinet at a farm in Tarporley, Cheshire, could have fallen into the wrong hands if Bryan's home had been burgled.

"No-one on Merseyside needs to be told what can happen when young men get shotguns into their hands, particularly if they also find ammunition.

"Together they would have potentially been a risk to life and limb on the streets of Merseyside," he said.

Bryan, of Gorse Crescent, Wallasey, pleaded guilty to possessing the shotgun, without a certificate and cultivating cannabis.

The court heard that he had bought the gun, said to be worth between £800 and £1,500, for £100 a few weeks after it was stolen and had had it for about a year when police raided his home on September 21 last year after reports of men trying to break in.

Rowena Goode, defending, said that had started growing cannabis because he was a long term user.

Field sports had been his passion since an early age and he used to help the gamekeeper on the Leverhulme estate.

After he was jailed for wounding he contented himself with using an air rifle for shooting vermin but made a fundamental error when he bought the shotgun, which he had only used once.

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