A WILD West enthusiast who held on to his bullets after giving up his guns has walked free from court.
Glen Bowers, 52, was arrested and charged for possessing the ammunition after police searched his home at Bartlett Street, Openshaw, and found over 200 rounds in a box.
But it later emerged that he was keen on cowboys and would dress up and shoot blanks at re-enactments of frontier life in the rugged Old West.
Judge Roger Thomas QC, sentencing at Manchester crown court, said that in cases like this the crime of 'possessing expanding ammunition' was not as bad as it sounded and lacked the usual issues surrounding firearms cases.
The court heard that Mr Bowers - a former national rifle champion - had possessed guns and ammunition legally in the past.
But, when he gave up his firearms certificate, he failed to discard the 22 rounds.
Mr Bowers was also sentenced for two assaults which led to police calling at his home in the first place.
The court heard that he assaulted his wife Karen on February 16 in a family row.
In what was said to be an 'out of character' rage, Mr Bowers hit his wife over the head with a vase containing flowers before tossing a cup of lukewarm tea at his daughter Lisa.
Sentencing, Judge Roger Thomas QC said that while the victims suffered 'minor and transient injuries' it was 'unforgivable' to hit women.
However, he accepted it was a 'one-off' incident in which the defendant, said to be suffering from depression, had failed to keep his temper in check.
The couple, who have three children, had been undergoing marriage difficulties for a number of months.
Mr Bowers, who admitted possessing the ammunition illegally and the two common assaults at an earlier hearing, was sentenced to 40 hours unpaid work.
He had starred in a number of Western re-enactments and displays around the north west.
Speaking after the case, Mr Bowers said the criminal proceedings had cost him his £22,000 job with an aircraft repair firm along with his much-loved past time, as he would now no longer able to get a firearm license.
He said: "That is my hobby gone. I have been doing it for 25 years and raised a lot of money for charity through displays. It is like being a Man United fan and someone saying you can't go to United."
The Western enthusiast, who now lives at Norfolk Gardens, Flixton, said he had lovingly decorated the family's living room of to look like a Colonial-era cabin, complete with log-covered walls and a stone fireplace.
But since the bust-up, his wife had removed all trappings of the cabin theme from their terraced home, he complained.
The couple now intend to get divorced.
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Rivvyrover, Horwich (21/11/2009 at 11:12)
Angie33 , Manchester (21/11/2009 at 11:59)
PATRICK DOWLING (21/11/2009 at 12:59)
thaitanium (21/11/2009 at 13:20)
The foreigner (21/11/2009 at 15:58)
21/11/2009 at 11:12
There are times when the Law really is an ass.
As regards the ammunition charge, his wife obviously 'shopped' him. I'm not sure what police do over there but they are obviously not "real" policemen. The police should have weighed the circumstances and declined to prosecute. What, take on the role of the courts? Exactly, that's what police do all the time - they are (should be) a filter to keep the garbage out of the courts. Police could easily have come to the decision that the judge came to - on exactly the same circumstances and evidence.
OK, so I wasn't there but, as a policeman, I'd have been very circumspect about the wife's complaint. Not that she wasn't hit with the vase - but what did she do to provoke the attack?
The more I read about your police the more I come to realise you have real cretins in blue uniforms.
Mancunian Minxycat (21/11/2009 at 16:35)
macintosh, Alberta Canada (21/11/2009 at 16:45)
To Mr & Mrs Bowers, I hope you can resolve your differences, I wish you both the best.
Black Flag (21/11/2009 at 16:51)
Unfortunately, you are right. Earlier this month a man was convicted of possession of a firearm, because he handed in a shotgun, which had been thrown into his garden, to the police. The police response was to immediately arrest him!
macintosh, Alberta Canada (21/11/2009 at 16:52)
If you think the british bobby is bad, try dealling with the "clowns" we have over here.
We read in the paper (over here) how the cops abuse their authority with Joe public.
On several occasions pepper spraying people who later died. Somehow they have a "police enquiry" which desolves into the back pages and they are let off the hook ha! Now they are REAL CRETINS
macintosh, Alberta Canada (21/11/2009 at 17:05)
citycentre, manchester (21/11/2009 at 17:52)
Two women a week are killed by current or past partners, maybe if the police were less circumspect this number would be reduced
Mrs Jammy, Sitting on the settee (21/11/2009 at 18:27)
The Good, The Bad and The Bit Dim.
Ivor Rash, Oldham (21/11/2009 at 19:37)
Persepolis Young (21/11/2009 at 20:32)
Grumpy of Chorlton, Manchester (22/11/2009 at 09:59)
But, as you say you are a foreigner. Stay that way, keep your nose out of our business, we have enough foreigners meddling as it is.
theoracle1981, manchester (22/11/2009 at 20:36)
Be careful about abusing foreigners, remember that they have more rights than people who live in this country. Im suprised he hasnt come over to claim his free house and benefits yet.
Mad Welsh Scotsman, Cadishead (23/11/2009 at 08:23)
Mad Welsh Scotsman, Cadishead (23/11/2009 at 08:31)
citycentre, manchester (23/11/2009 at 08:54)
Are you serious?
Would it not be better to find out if a crime may have been commited, rather than instantly arresting a public minded citizen doing the right thing, handing in a dangerous weapon?
You really want the consequence of going to the police to report something like this to be arrest, DNA sampling (to be illegaliy held probably forever even when you are finally freed) and the possibilty of your name ending up on one of the "soft inteligence" databases government bodies are using see if an estimated 13 million people are allowed to go about their business?
Black Flag (23/11/2009 at 09:06)
He wasn't, there was no suggestion he had and he was not charged with that. The case against him in court completely accepted his version of events.
"They have procedures that they have to follow, it's not like handing in a found wallet or purse."
Taking the same approach, they would have charged him with handling stolen goods if he done that.
Maybe, using your silly mindset, they might have decided that he was really a mugger who was trying to hand in the purse to put them off the scent.
The Man, Sat on a chair (23/11/2009 at 14:39)
Mad Welsh Scotsman, Cadishead (23/11/2009 at 16:59)
citycentre, manchester (24/11/2009 at 13:27)
I thought my comments were fair and in no way insulting however. On the plus side your favoured approach of arresting the person reporting a crime would soon have the crime rate at almsot zero.
Mad Welsh Scotsman, Cadishead (24/11/2009 at 13:58)
I'm not for arresting everybody on just anything but for more serious crimes, it would be better to eliminate someone from their enquiries and when better than when they are there. It only needs to be a few simple questions like where were you at the time when this happened or was anybody else there. That could link others to the scene of a crime and open other avenues of enquiry. Sometimes the simplest of information can go a long way.
I'm not talking about putting someone on a rack or iron maiden to torture a confession out of them
Black Flag (24/11/2009 at 14:24)
The situation in question was nothing like the one you're presenting. You're talking about eliminating somebody from a non-existent enquiry. There was no other crime the police were investigating. He was arrested, charged and convicted for possession of a firearm and the only reason that he had the firearm was because somebody had thrown it into his garden and he wanted to hand it to the police.
The message this sends out is that the safest approach is not to co-operate with the police.