Man jailed after DNA linked to guns stashed in car

Stephen Garrett denied any involvement but was found guilty by a jury

Police found two guns, a silencer and drugs after a series of desperate phone calls about an abandoned car they had seized made them suspicious.

The Ford Galaxy had been found in a "state of disrepair" in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool and was towed to a police compound on 13 April 2022.

Officers then began to receive calls from various different people who claimed to own the vehicle, so decided to conduct a search - before finding the items and making an arrest.

Stephen Garrett, 40, has been jailed for eight years following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court after his DNA linked him to the two weapons.

One of the guns was fitted with a silencer

The court heard a Glock self-loading handgun and a Grand Power pistol were stashed under the bonnet and beneath the boot compartment, alongside ammunition and a silencer.

Also in the boot compartment were carrier bags containing crack cocaine and heroin worth £36,500.

In March, Danielle Wilson, 40, was handed a suspended sentence after admitting drugs offences when her DNA was found on plastic wraps containing the drugs.

In that case the prosecution accepted she had only been involved in "bagging" some of the drugs and had no involvement with the firearms.

Police became suspicious after a series of calls

Garrett, of Upton Road in Moreton, Wirral, was convicted of two counts of possessing a firearm.

Det Insp John Mullen, from Merseyside's Police's firearms investigation team, said: "There is no hiding place for these weapons and this incident shows that we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to take firearms out of circulation.

"We were able to link Garrett to the two firearms through a DNA match and despite him denying the offences, he was found guilty by a jury and will now have time to reflect on his actions from his prison cell."