AN AMMAN Valley man has been jailed after he ordered a pistol and ammunition from America.

Authorities in the United States examined a parcel heading to Ammanford on March 11, prosecutor Frederick Hookway said. Inside was a Glock 26 9mm self-loading pistol and ten 9mm hollow point bullets.

The parcel was being sent to Elwyn Downing and had his address and telephone number on it.

“The pistol fell foul of the Firearms Act,” Mr Hookway said. “The possession of the ammunition requires a certificate. This defendant doesn’t have such a licence.”

The National Crime Agency in the UK allowed the parcel to be delivered on March 13, but had bugged it with recording devices.

The defendant was recorded telling another man that there was a Glock in the package and confirmed that it was “a real gun”, Mr Hookway said.

When the other man asked what it was for, Downing replied: “Time to take out the”, but the rest of his response was unintelligible on the recording.

The pair discussed needing two safes – one for the gun and one for the ammo – and when asked about why someone would want an M16 assault rifle, the defendant replied: “Why wouldn’t you?”.

NCA officers attended Downing’s address at 12.43pm that day and arrested the defendant.

Two mobile phones were seized, Mr Hookway said, and messages on the Telegram app beginning in February showed the defendant arranging to pay £1,200 for the pistol and £10 for the ammunition, and then confirming he had paid this.

In the messages, Mr Hookway said Downing showed “approval and appreciation for the service provided” and referenced potentially ordering more guns as he had “got a few of my close friends very interested”.

Downing answered no comment to all questions in interview, and, after being charged, initially claimed that he had ordered the gun for another person. 

The defendant later fully accepted the charges.

Downing, 46, of Cwmamman Road in Glanaman, had 15 previous convictions for 36 offences.

“These guns when they are obtained by anybody for any purpose can end up in the wrong hands,” Judge Geraint Walters said.

“The defendant accepts that,” said Stuart John, appearing for the defendant.  

Mr John said that Downing ordering the gun and ammunition was “unquestionably an extremely foolish and serious act”.

He said the defendant didn’t put forward any reason for ordering the gun, and suggested it was out of “some sort of morbid curiosity”.

“The messages show an element of bravado at the very least,” Mr John added.

He said the defendant was using drugs at the time – including ecstasy and amphetamine – and that this was affecting the defendant’s actions.

Judge Walters described Downing’s offending as “beyond comprehension”.

“I’m still not wholly sure as to exactly what your motives were,” he said.

He sentenced Downing to four years and eight months for attempted possession of a firearm and three years, running concurrently, for attempted possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate.