A CLYDEBANK thug who was caught red-handed with an antique musket in a car is facing a lengthy jail sentence.
Jay Haggerty, 21, from Clydebank, was nabbed in Juniper Avenue, East Kilbride, on August 29, this year, after police received a tip-off.
Prosecutor Michael Meehan told the High Court in Glasgow that police were told the gun was in the silver Volkswagen Polo in which Haggerty was a passenger.
The court heard that he paid a friend £30 to drive him from Clydebank to East Kilbride. On the way he asked her to stop and another man got in after placing a black holdall in the boot.
They gave the driver a postcode destination and as they approached East Kilbride the second man called someone to advise they were five minutes away.
When the car was searched by police the gun - a muzzle-loading musket of unknown age with a shortened barrel – was found along with a butterfly knife.
Haggerty asked the police to let his companions go saying: “It’s nothing to do with them, it’s mine, let them go.”
Mr Meehan said of the gun: "It was a muzzle-loading single shot percussion musket of unknown age or origin.
"It was not a modern reproduction and was not in working order owing to a trigger fault.
"The barrel had been shortened to less than two feet.
“If kept as a curiosity or an ornament it may be considered an antique and may be freely possessed."
But this legal get-out did not apply to Haggerty because of his custodial record.
Mr Meechan added: “The accused accepts it was not possessed as a curiosity or an ornament.”
Haggerty pleaded guilty to two offences under the Firearms Act and a further charge of having a knife in a public place.
Haggerty has since been jailed for 12 months on a separate matter.
Lady Stacey deferred sentence for reports and said: “It’s plain looking at his record that something has gone far wrong and I want to be fully informed.”
Haggerty will be brought back to the court for sentencing on January 9.
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