A RETIRED accountant who collected up a bizarre arsenal of firearms and ammunition at his home has been jailed.

Michael Ward had a fascination with weapons and was found with starting pistols, air rifles and 700 rounds of live ammunition at a house in Winkleigh.

He also traded in a imitation, flare-firing pistols and was caught because he sold one to a fellow collector and sent it through the post. It was intercepted after being put through an X ray machine at an airport.

Ward is a 60-year-old semi-retired accountant whose home was raided by police in August 2016.

Officers found weapons in the hallway, kitchen, living room and two of the three bedrooms. A total of 17 flare or blank firing starting pistols, three high powered air rifles, and 700 rounds of home made .308 rifle ammunition were seized.

None of the 17 blank or air firing pistols were capable of either firing real bullets or being adapted in such a way that they could be.

Ward, now living in Holsworthy, admitted attempting to sell a Sig 9 mm blank firing pistol, possessing a prohibited starting pistol and 700 rounds of ammunition without a certificate, and possession of three air rifles. He asked for 16 other offences to be considered.

He was jailed for two years and six months by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘It was an extraordinarily reckless act to transfer these items in the way that you did. They could have been used in extremely serious criminal activity.

‘You took no measures in terms of security. The items and the ammunition were effectively on open display. If you had ever been burgled and they had fallen into the wrong hands, the consequences of them in criminal hands are unthinkable.

‘I accept you were pursuing some form of hobby and did not intend to sell items to those of criminal disposition and did not intend them to be used in a criminal or life threatening way.

‘What you did was breathtakingly reckless.’

Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said Ward’s home was raided after an imitation pistol which he sold to a gun collector was seized at an airport while being sent to his address in Cleveland. The gun collector was cautioned and surrendered his large collection of imitation and blank-firing pistols, worth £10,000, to police.

The other weapons were all found in the search of Ward’s former home at Winkleigh.

Miss Drake said: ‘Ward stored the weapons at his home in a haphazard way. Also found was an uncompleted application for a firearms licence. He had kit capable of making further ammunition.

‘In interview, he described himself as a collector and accepted he had purchased all the items. It is clear he did not appreciate that every item breached the legislation.

‘They were not stored securely and at any point the ammunition could have fallen into the hands of those who could have put them to lethal use.’

Richard Crabb, defending, said was an enthusiast who did not realise that his interest in weapons had led him to commit serious offences.

He said: ‘He displayed a certain amount of naivety, some may say stupidity. He developed a fascination with weapons and ammunition when he retired. He has been very foolish but no actual harm has occurred.’

Mr Crabb said Ward made no money out of selling guns and none of the weapons were capable of firing live rounds or being adapted. He had two more air rifles and three air pistols which were so low powered they were legal.

He said Ward had retired to Devon after a career as an accountant and banker in Scotland but carried on doing some work until his arrest in 2016.