A HARMLESS looking wooden walking stick produced in court yesterday had been hollowed out and a gun barrel and concealed trigger installed.
The 100-year-old stick-gun was found by police in the home of a wealthy pensioner after an anonymous tip-off, fiscal John Bamber told Dingwall Sheriff Court.
Mr Bamber said police called at 70-year-old Englishman George Fennell's home in St Andrew's Walk, Fortrose, on the Black Isle, with a search warrant after receiving a letter stating that he had a such a gun.
Fennell co-operated by leading them to a bedroom wardrobe where the stick-gun, which fired .410 shotgun cartridges, hung on a hook.
Fennell, who pled guilty to firearms offences, was fined #600. He told the court: ''It has been in my family for a very long time. It was my father's. He was a gentleman of property in Warwickshire. I have never used it.''
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