A GUN obsessive who “tinkered” with weapons as a hobby was yesterday jailed for six years.

Glen Graham, 38, modified and made firearms in his spare time at work, at a motor salvage workshop in a former fire station in Delves Lane, Consett, County Durham.

But Durham Crown Court heard that one of his collection, a re-activated sawn-off shotgun, “fell into the wrong hands”.

Andrew Finlay, mitigating, said “criminal elements” got wind of his skills and he was pressured to allow them to use the weapon, a Mossberg pump action shotgun.

The court heard it was found hidden in a bin liner in a field, off a country lane at Tanfield Village, near Stanley.

Police made the search after three community support officers were threatened at gunpoint by one of two men wearing balaclava masks, apparently looking for the package, on May 12, last year.

They were told to go back to their vehicles and, on doing so, the men made off in a Renault Megane parked nearby and have not been caught.

Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said after the sawn-off shotgun was recovered, Graham was traced through serial number checks.

It emerged that the registered owner, a dealer in deactivated weapons, sold it to Graham for £340.

Mr Dryden said while in Graham’s ownership it was heavily modified and re-activated.

A search of the workshop led to the recovery of a live round of ammunition, a zipgun disguised as a torch, and rifle components.

In lengthy interviews he claimed he sawed off the barrels of the shotgun for “aesthetic reasons” to make it look like one pictured in a gun enthusiasts’ magazine.

Mr Dryden told the court: “He conceded the gun was given to people involved in the criminal fraternity, a criminal family who became aware he was able to reactivate this gun and they insisted on this.”

The court heard it was not known if it was used in crime.

Mr Finlay said Graham’s interest was in “tinkering” with guns but that he had been “naive”.

Graham, 38, of Horton Close, Consett, admitted converting an imitation firearm and transferring a prohibited firearm, possessing a round of firearms’ ammunition without a certificate, and three counts of possession of a prohibited firearm.

Jailing Graham, Judge Michael Cartlidge said his account, “on the face of it, seems very unlikely”.

He also ordered confiscation and destruction of all the recovered weapons.