Walsall man who converted blank-firing guns in his shed has jail term doubled
A Black Country man who imported blank-firing guns and converted them into lethal weapons in his garden shed has had his jail term doubled.
Robert Bartell, 55 and from Walsall, imported a number of blank-firing pistols in February 2019 and advertised two of them for sale on the internet.
The two illegal weapons were subsequently seized by the police.
Bartell, of Cambridge Street, was sentenced in the magistrates’ court to a £100 fine and £100 in costs.
Bartell did not tell the police he still had several other firearms in his possession that he had imported.
He converted some of these weapons to fire live ammunition and imported two further guns in October 2019.
In November 2019, police searched Bartell’s house and found a box containing firearms and ammunition in his bedroom.
They also searched a shed in his back garden, which was being used as a workshop to convert the firearms to fire live ammunition and included a test-firing area.
The prohibited modified firearms seized in the police raid were a Zoraki handgun, an EKO handgun, A BBM Minigap, a Kimor handgun and a sawn-off shotgun.
Also found were 23 adapted 9mm blank rounds retro-fitted with ball bearings or lead shots and damaged books which the 55-year-old had used as targets to test-fire the weapons.
Bartell wasn’t in when police visited but hours later he surrendered to a police station where he told counter staff: "I’m in a world of trouble over this; I know I’ll be going to prison. I have to own up to what I have done."
In an interview Bartell told detectives he converted the pistols as a personal technical challenge and had no intention to sell firearms to criminals.
He admitted having five prohibited firearms on the basis that the altered handguns had never left his home, he had no association with violent crime and had no intention to sell them.
Bartrell also pleaded guilty to being in possession of the converted projectiles without a firearms certificate and a prohibited explosive cartridge bullet.
He was jailed for two-and-a-half years at Wolverhampton Crown Court in February.
But at a remote hearing on Friday the Court of Appeal increased that sentence to five years following a referral by Solicitor General Michael Ellis.
After the hearing the Solicitor General said: "Bartell created a number of lethal weapons and continued to work on illegal firearms despite being sentenced only a few months earlier for having them in his possession.
"Converting these dangerous weapons put lives at risk, and it is important to send a strong message that crimes of this nature and repeat offending will be met with robust action."
