Leeds man who posed in kitchen with shotguns and kept cocaine in a JD Sports bag jailed for 10 years

Rocky Hoban was caught with three guns, ammunition and cocaine worth £11,000 when police raided his home in Leeds.

Specialist officers from Leeds District Programme Precision Team, which targets serious and organised crime, executed a search warrant at his home in Broadlea Mount, Bramley, on November 7 last year.

Hoban was detained within the address and officers carried out a search of the property, police said.

In the main upstairs bedroom officers found a bag in the wardrobe that contained two sawn-off shotguns and a blank-firing handgun adapted to fire live ammunition.

Also recovered were 15 rounds of adapted 8mm ammunition for the handgun, live shotgun cartridges, with some that appeared to have been adapted, and two bags of steel ball bearings, which can be used to modify ammunition.

Also within the wardrobe was a JD Sports bag containing four ounces of cocaine.

The firearms underwent specialist examination and were confirmed as prohibited weapons under the Firearms Act.

The cocaine was confirmed as having a street value of £11,000.

Hoban was subsequently charged with three counts of possession of a firearm without a certificate, possession of modified ammunition and possession of cocaine with intent to supply.

He pleaded guilty to the offences and was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today to consecutive sentences of six years for the firearms offences and four years for the drugs.

Detective Inspector Michael Herbert, who heads Leeds District Programme Precision Team, said: “Illegally held firearms and ammunition such as these have the potential to kill or cause serious injury and have no place in the hands of criminals.

“These deadly weapons have been taken off the streets through the continued work of specialist officers targeting those involved in the organised supply of drugs and the firearms offences so often associated with this criminal trade.

“I hope the significant sentence that Hoban has received will send a very clear message to those involved in gun and drug crime of the penalties they can expect, and also provide some reassurance to the community.”