Couple jailed after selling guns in firearms and ammunition supply operation

A couple have been jailed after selling a gun to a gangster in a firearms and ammunition supply operation.

Vincent Horsfall, 30, of Waterloo, Liverpool, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison after he admitted supplying a firearm and possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition.

His girlfriend Fiona Crooks, 29, of Netherley, Liverpool, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Both were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

During the investigation, a .41 Colt revolver was recovered, which was evidence as having being supplied by Horsfall.

Following a warrant at a home in Wheatfield Close, Netherley, a loaded Colt revolver and six rounds of ammunition were found and seized.

A further warrant at an address in The Causeway, Southport, resulted in casings, bullet heads and other paraphernalia being found.

Speaking after the sentencing, detective inspector Emma Kerrigan said: "It is pleasing to see Horsfall dealt with at court, following a long and complex investigation.

“The supply and storage of firearms and ammunition equips serious and organised criminals with the capability to intimidate, injure and kill people.

“We have tragically seen the devastation that the use of guns can cause in our communities, and this investigation removes not only a number of viable weapons, but also a man who was prepared to supply and store them.

“Horsfall was not concerned with the potential harm that his activities might cause, only the financial gain.

"That his girlfriend Crooks also finds herself being convicted of assisting him in these activities should also send a strong message to those who, through misguided loyalty or other reasons, assist others in such serious criminality.

"Crooks is a woman of previously good character with a child and her immediate custodial sentence further shows the gravity of such offences.