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Gun smuggler jailed for 30 years Gun smuggler jailed for 30 years
(1 day later)
A man who was behind one of the biggest gun smuggling operations in the UK has been jailed for 30 years at Manchester Crown Court. The mastermind behind one of the biggest gun smuggling operations in the UK has been jailed for 30 years at Manchester Crown Court.
Michael Sammon, 49, financed a gun smuggling racket. At least 274 weapons were imported into the UK, police said. Michael Sammon, 49, was the head of a gang which converted hundreds of blank-firing guns into deadly weapons.
One of those firearms killed 12-year-old schoolgirl Kamilah Peniston.One of those firearms killed 12-year-old schoolgirl Kamilah Peniston.
Sammon, of no fixed address, was found guilty at Preston Crown Court earlier this week of several charges, including conspiracy to import firearms.Sammon, of no fixed address, was found guilty at Preston Crown Court earlier this week of several charges, including conspiracy to import firearms.
He was also convicted of conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to manufacture firearms, conspiracy to possess firearms and possessing false passports.
The alarm flare guns were bought cheaply on open sale in Germany and brought to Ancoats, Manchester, where they were modified to fire live ammunition and sold to criminals.
'Gradiose plans'
More than 270 of the weapons were smuggled by ferry - and then via post - between April 2004 and September 2005.
Sammon acted as financier and had "grandiose" plans to expand the scheme and set up another factory in Spain, the court heard.
Buyers from Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester, Yorkshire and Scotland lined up to buy the guns, which were sold for £500 each, or for up to £750 with ammunition included.
They were purchased in Germany for just 50 euros (£43).
About half of the firearms have been recovered, but around 100 remain untraced.
Sentencing Manchester-born Sammon, Judge Martin Steiger QC said many of the guns had been used in shooting incidents, including at least two fatalities.
He undoubtedly was the head of this sinister commercial operation Judge Steiger QC
Five men were sentenced in 2006 for their part in the racket, but Sammon remained at large until June 2008.
He used two fake passports and changed his appearance several times before he was finally traced to a caravan park in Southsea, Hampshire.
Judge Steiger QC also sentenced the other gang members in 2006 and described them then as "merchants of death" - a comment he said still stood today.
He added: "It is clear that Michael Sammon is a man of considerable commercial acumen and experience.
"He undoubtedly was the head of this sinister commercial operation."
Sammon disappeared in 1997 when he was convicted of a serious fraud after he duped a number of business creditors out of several million pounds.
He was sentenced to four years in jail in his absence.
About half of the firearms were recovered but about 100 are untraced
Sammon managed to remain undetected for 11 years despite owning a number of shops selling tools in Derby, across the Midlands and more recently in Blackpool, under the false name of John Eugene McDonagh.
His girlfriend, Fiona McIntyre, 42, of Melville Road, Southsea, was jailed for 30 months after she was found guilty of assisting an offender and possessing a false passport.
She had been in a two-year relationship with the defendant and helped to hide Sammon at Southsea Leisure Park while he was on the run.
Henry Grunwald QC, representing Sammon, had argued that there was no evidence to show the defendant was the leader of the gang and that his role had been overstated.
Mr Grunwald said his client wished to say he "deeply regretted" involving McIntyre in the passport scam.
Det Sgt Jim Gray, of Greater Manchester Police's Xcalibre organised crime unit, said: "He (Sammon) was among some of the most wanted criminals in Britain and this gun-smuggling racket which brought the misery of guns to many people could not have operated to the extent it did without him funding it."