Arms-dealing grandfather jailed after selling double-barrelled shotgun to undercover cop in his farmhouse
It was described in court as "the perfect location for an arms deal away from the gaze of the public."
AN arms-dealing grandfather has been jailed for six years after selling a double-barrelled shotgun to an undercover cop in his farmhouse.
Ex-serviceman David Smith, 79, took £2,000 from a police officer for the weapon and a handgun with a silencer and ammunition.
The transaction was organised by Smith's violent arms dealer son in Middleton, Manchester.
He is the latest in a line of crooks jailed by John Sherwood, an officer who has spent three years undercover infiltrating Salford's criminal underworld.
Manchester Crown Court heard David Smith allowed arms deal to be brokered at his farm.
It was set up by Terence Hamer Senior, who introduced the officer to Smith's violent arms dealer son Steven Smith.
'John' picked up Hamer at Salford precint and then collected a middleman, Mark 'Fatman' Wright.
The three of them drove to the remote farmhouse, surrounded by a high wooden fence and with large wooden gates.
It was described in court as "the perfect location for an arms deal away from the gaze of the public."
In a converted bar, David Smith handed John a large brown case and plastic bag containing a double-barrelled shotgun, a handgun with a silencer and two bullets.
David's grandson Jake Smith, then 16, also retrieved a tub containing 14 shotgun cartridges.
The undercover officer paid £2,000 for the weapons.
The court heard David Smith, who served in the armed forces and is now suffering with dementia, tried to blame his grandson during the trial.
Judge Martin Rudland told the defendant: "As far as you were concerned, that gun was going to someone who was prepared to pay good money for it.
"You showed no compunction and you willingly became involved in that."
David Smith, of Middleton, was jailed for six years after a jury found him guilty of three firearms offences.
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His grandson Jake, now 18, of Whitefield, was handed a suspended sentence for his role in the arms deal. The judge ruled he acted because he was terrified of his violent father.
As his mother watched from the public gallery, Jake Smith sobbed in the dock when the judge ruled he would not be handed the minimum three year sentence because of "exceptional circumstances."
The judge said: "He was trapped between his villainous father on the one hand and his grandfather on the other, the two people who should have been protecting him."
His father Steven, 44, of Prestwich, Manchester, was jailed for 12 years and eight months after he pleaded guilty to three firearms offences and conspiracy to supply MDMA.
Another of the undercover officer's dupes also escaped prison even though she had taken part in one of his drug deals.
Denise Donnelly, 58, of Ancoats, Manchester, pleaded guilty to supplying benzocaine - a cutting agent for cocaine.
She counted money paid by the undercove rofficer and was a described as a "luckless dupe" by the judge. She was handed 160 hours' unpaid work.
More of the undercover officer's dupes are due to be sentenced on Wednesday.