Stun-gun man spared jail

A CHADDERTON man has evaded jail after admitting having a stun gun at his home and £2,000 of amphetamine in his work van.

Self-employed heating engineer Kevin McGuinn (37), from Taunton Road, was given six-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work after admitting possessing a prohibited weapon, a class-B drug with intent to supply, cannabis and failing to stop after a road accident.

McGuinn was involved in a rear-end shunt with a Mercedes car on Broadway last September and didn’t stop. The other car’s owner called police and gave details of McGuinn’s Transit van. He was tracked down at his mother’s house and arrested.

Police found £170 of cannabis – which McGuinn claimed was for personal use — as well as amphetamines with a street value of £2,000 in the van. A search of his home revealed the stun gun.

In his defence, McGuinn said someone at a gym had asked him to take a bag to another person in return for £50 and he didn’t know what was in it. He had the stun gun, which he claimed did not work, after being the victim of a street assault.

He accepted he should have stopped at the accident but said he was worried about his no-claims insurance bonus and panicked.