A gun fanatic pensioner who imported from the US component parts for a potentially lethal AR15 assault rifle walked free from court on Friday after a judge suspended his prison sentence.
Imposing a ten month jail sentence on William McMullan but suspending it for a year “in the particular circumstances of this case,” Judge Geoffrey Miller KC highlighted how such assault rifles “had been used in many mass shootings in the US.”
Sentencing McMullan at Downpatrick Crown Court, the judge said “it is significant that no actions were taken by the police” to revoke the gun licence held by the 66-year-old and that if he had taken the proper, legal steps, he could have added the weaponry he imported to his certificate which only expired last month.
At an earlier hearing McMullan, from the Loughdoo Road in Newtownards, entered guilty pleas to a total of six counts of the fraudulent importation of various firearms on 15 October 2019.
The charges disclose that McMullan imported the AR15 rifle, a semi automatic Browning, a .38 S&W revolver, a 303 British calibre rifle barrel, a .45 automatic pistol and two .22 long rifle calibre single stack box magazines.
Judge Miller told the court how the Royal Mail in Coventry intercepted two parcels destined for McMullan’s address in Newtownards and when they were found to contain firearms and components parts for guns, “the NCA applied for a warrant” to search the defendant’s home.
That search was carried out in November 2019 when NCA officers uncovered “14 additional weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition” not covered by McMullan’s firearm certificate.
During police interviews McMullan “made several admissions” and outlined to police how he had previously lived and worked in Montana to such an extent that he held a US “green card” and further that he was involved in several gun clubs including being chairman, secretary and a founding member.
He admitted to police that he had sent himself the AR15 and although he had machined the trigger mechanism to ensure the firearm would work he had not intended to use it, a claim supported by the fact there were no bullets suitable to be used in it.
Judge Miller said it was clear from the reports and the defendant’s background that “he is an experienced armourer” but as the prosecution highlighted in their submissions, had the potentially deadly weapon not been intercepted, it would have remained unregistered and could potentially have fallen into the hands of terrorists or an organised crime gang.
The judge said it was clear from the NCA search that McMullan’s arsenal of weaponry had been “stored in the most haphazard and chaotic manner” but that since his offending was uncovered some four years ago, he had voluntary absented himself from his favourite hobby of shooting.
He told McMullan while the case called for a jail sentence “I see no need that it will be a custodial term” so imposing the ten months, he suspended it for a year and also ordered the seized weaponry to be destroyed.