Firearms licensing officers admit selling guns

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Firearms licensing officers admit selling guns

A stolen rifle was reported by the owner as having been bought from the police.

By Barnaby Dracup

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Two police firearms licensing officers have admitted being involved in selling guns that had been handed in by the public to be destroyed.

PC Maurice Allen (47) and Pc Damien Cobain (42), both of Durham police, pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court to misconduct in a public place.

Allen also faced 16 charges of theft relating to various firearms but did not enter a plea.

Both men were granted unconditional bail to appear at the same court on February 26.

The pair were arrested after a burglary at a farmhouse in north Durham, in which one of the items stolen was a rifle, which the owner said he had bought from the police.

A seven-month investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission examined claims that weapons handed in by the public for safe disposal were later sold.

A police spokesman said that all the firearms had been accounted for and there was nothing to suggest that any of them had been used in criminal activity.