Compare these prison sentences.

[VHG]

This woman keeps a gun belonging to her father who was in the Royal Navy, has no intention of using it, but gets 5 years in prison.

http://news.bbc.co.uk...scotland/10335003.stm

This man converted starting pistols to "proper guns", knowing full well they would be used in crimes, and gets only 30 months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk...d/london/10336103.stm

Surely one of these sentences is wrong !

[joeluke]

I agree

Her crime was possession of a gun with no ammunition

His converted guns were probably used in crime and to threaten/injure/kill people

[Gromit]

You are comparing two different legal systems. Nick a loaf here and you get a slapped wrist. Nick one in Saudi Arabia and they chop your hand off.

Scottish law and English law are different, and there are discrepancies.

The Scottish case. The Judge did not believe her explanation, and the gun was in the house she shared with her son who had convictions for violent assault and possessing a knife.

[chas2008]

after the Hungerford & Dunblane shootings it was supposedly made a mandatory 5 years for possession of an unlicenced firearm.Although in reality i dont think its always enforced.. I assume a modified starting pistol wouldnt fall in to this catagory

[olddutch]

As gromit suggests, you cant properly compare the two cases.

[jake-the-peg]

The judge heard her solicitors arguments and rejected them - you it seems have heard much less and have come down on her side.

I'm guessing mostly because she's a 53 year old grandmother

The law relating to hand guns is well known - She had it for many years knowing it was illegal - she could have had it deactivated - she didn't

She kept it under a mattress - I didn't hear the evidence either but I'd imagine these arguments were quite high in the judges consideration.

As for the other case I can't see why the sentence was so lienient - perhaps there's a mitigating circumstance not reported but I can't imagine what.

I'd hope the prosecution is planning to appeal

[Lindylou]

I suppose the question is really - why should she want to keep a gun in the house? Regardless of not having any ammo. I suppose anyone who had a gun pointed at them would stop to think are there any bullets in it. Until its fired how would anyone know anyway? Five years seems a bit excessive but a guns a gun after all. Look at Dunblane, Hungerford, Cumbria.

[AlBags]

Seem the wrong way around for me.

Anyway .. It's not the guns that are dangerous .. It's the people that misuse them that are.

[annie0000]

Dunblane, not forgetting the other uk incidents, is still very much a raw wound in Scotland, not surprised that they come down heavy on gun posession. As was stated, we are not talking about a nice old lady in a nice retirement home, we are talking about someone who kept a gun available in order to deliver a threat, possibly due to the people her son was mixing with. Having said that, my mother-in-law used to keep a machete brought back by her son who had been in the marines, next to her bed in case anyone broke in. My husband checked that it was blunt, but it made an elderely lady feel safe. If the woman in question had been in her 70s and on her own, I am sure the sentence would reflect that.