Conservative councillor disqualified after conviction on firearms charge

Conservative councillor and former Mayor Jonathan Farmer (Fenland District Council) has been automatically disqualified after being given a 21 month suspended jail sentence.

This follows Cllr Farmer’s conviction for possessing a fireman illegally. Although I’ve not seen the exact reasoning given for the sentencing, the suspended nature of the sentence is most likely due to his defence:

Mr Farmer, who lives in South Brink, said the German Walther PPK pistol was a gift from a friend, a British veteran of the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy in 1944.

“He took it off a German officer during the battle, but basically his wife wanted it out of the house, so he gave it to me some years later,” Mr Farmer said.

The gun, which he was told had been deactivated, had “sat in a cupboard for about 25 or 30 years,” he added.