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| SAS sniper Danny Nightingale guilty of possessing gun | SAS sniper Danny Nightingale guilty of possessing gun |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| An SAS sniper has been found guilty by a military court of possessing a pistol and ammunition. | |
| Sgt Danny Nightingale, from Crewe in Cheshire, had denied illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and 338 rounds of ammunition. | Sgt Danny Nightingale, from Crewe in Cheshire, had denied illegally possessing a Glock 9mm pistol and 338 rounds of ammunition. |
| He was originally ordered to serve 18 months in military detention after pleading guilty in November 2012. | |
| But this was overturned on appeal on the basis that he had been placed under "improper pressure" to plead guilty. | |
| Nightingale, a father-of-two, said he had suffered a brain injury during a charity endurance marathon in October 2009 and could not remember having the gun or the ammunition. | |
| He won the right to a retrial earlier this year after having his detention reduced to a 12 months' suspended sentence. | |
| 'Gaps in memory' | |
| His retrial at Bulford in Wiltshire heard that Nightingale had originally told police in 2011 he had been given the pistol while on a tour of duty in Iraq in 2007 and had brought it back to the UK in his kit. | |
| However, giving evidence in court, the soldier said that confession was false because of his memory problems. | |
| He said he had been filling in the gaps in his memory based on what other people had told him following his brain injury although the court heard medical opinion on this issue was divided. | |
| Following his original detention, his case was raised in the Houses of Parliament and 100,000 people signed a petition calling for Nightingale to be freed. | |
| The Court of Appeal later quashed his original convictions and a fresh trial was ordered. | |
| At the Bulford hearing sentencing was adjourned by Judge Advocate General Jeff Blackett pending a Court of Appeal judgment on the sentencing powers of the court. | |
| Nightingale was told by the judge he would be bailed until that date. | |
| The soldier replied: "I understand." | |
| The court martial, which began last week, heard how West Mercia Police had found the gun and ammunition in a rented house near the SAS headquarters in Hereford that Nightingale shared with another soldier, referred to in court as Soldier N. | |
| Police were acting on a tip-off from Soldier N's estranged wife, who told them there might be a gun stored at the house. | |
| The Glock pistol was found in Nightingale's wardrobe, while the ammunition was under his bed in a plastic box. |