Jail for mother-to-be with sub-machine gun

A mother-to-be who stashed a "fearsome" loaded sub-machine gun in a shoe box at her house in Wolverhampton has been jailed for six years.

Judge Robin Onions told Gemma Lewis firearms caused "mayhem" and the weapon, described as a "spray and pray" gun because of its difficulty to control, would have been used on the streets of the city and the West Midlands.

Lewis, aged 24, was there as police raided her Blakenhall home on March 23.

In a bedroom wardrobe, they found the shoe box hiding the MAC-10 which was loaded with six live bullets.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard it was converted from blank-firing to be capable of discharging 25 9mm cartridges with one squeeze of the trigger.

Judge Onions yesterday gave Lewis an extra year on top of a five year minimum for possession of a gun because of the type of weapon.

"It's not surprising that the gun is colloquially but accurately known as a 'spray and pray' weapon. That says it all," he said. "The problem is the mayhem caused by guns on the streets. Handguns are bad enough, but sub-machine guns?"

Lewis, of Park Street South, who admitted possession of the gun and ammunition, said she was given property — including the gun — to look after two months before the raid.

She did not know it included a gun, but eventually suspected it was a weapon when she reached into a bag and felt a hard object.

The judge told Lewis, due to give birth in December: "You didn't know what it was but the only inference is that the people who handed it to you were prepared to possess it and if necessary use it in all probably streets of Wolverhampton or the wider West Midlands."

"A message has got to you out loud and clear that anybody who looks after a firearm for another person or suspects they have one in their possession is almost certainly going to receive a very lengthy custodial sentence."