A 50-year-old 'idiot' who bought what he thought was a normal air gun at a car boot sale narrowly avoided a five-year jail term.

Frank Welch bought the weapon in pieces hoping to have it rebuilt so he could sell it on at a profit.

But when he took it to a gunsmith in Westbury they found it was a prohibited Brocock ME38 Magnum self-contained cartridge system.

Staff at Westbury Field Sports contacted police, who put the weapon back together and found it would only work if a missing component were bought from abroad.

As a result the charge of with possessing a prohibited weapon, which carries a mandatory five-year jail term, was dropped by prosecutors.

Instead Welch, of The Glebe, Freshford, Bath, pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm without a certificate.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court last week it was accepted that he did not have it for any sinister intentions.

She said: "To quote what my colleague Colin Meeke has written on the file 'Anyone buying a gun at a car boot sale is an idiot if he doesn't know what he's bought.

"'It doesn't bear bringing the full weight of the law down on his head. We put this case on the basis that the defendant was a fool rather than a knave'."

Jason Taylor, defending, said two firearms officers who looked at the rebuilt weapon couldn't get it to fire.

It was established it could only be made operational if parts were ordered online from, Europe, where the weapon is legal, and fitted to it.

He said his client would not have taken the gun to a shop to ask for it to be repaired, giving his real name, if he had illicit intentions.

Judge Peter Blair QC said: "I am perfectly satisfied that your involvement with this matter did involve no more than that you buying something second hand with the possible opportunity of earning a small amount of profit from it if it were put in a shape as an air pistol.

"There is no way you would have got someone to take this to a gun shop if you thought you were going to get in trouble. I accept that.

"Whilst the courts are extremely sensitive to the subject of guns I do not regard this as a person who had any ulterior or dangerous motivation.

"The fact of the mater is it was foolish on your part to even begin to get involved with an item like that."

He fined him £100 with a £20 victim surcharge.

Bryan Burrows, 45, of Westfield Road, Trowbridge, had taken the gun to the shop for his friend. The charges against him were dropped at an earlier hearing.