Craig Reilly appeared in court on crutches after drunkenly falling from a second-floor balcony last year
Craig Reilly appeared in court on crutches after drunkenly falling from a second-floor balcony last year
A loaded gun that was dumped in the back garden of a family home was picked up by an innocent nine-year-old boy. The illegal self-loading pistol was traced to drug dealer Craig Reilly, 34, whose DNA was found on its receiver and slider.
Reilly, of Deacon Street, Birkenhead, had been arrested on July 7 2023, two months after police raided his property and found 36 packages of heroin and 33 packages of crack cocaine with a street value of up to £1,050. Officers also found 723 counterfeit bank notes stashed in the dad-of-two’s bedroom.
He was interviewed and provided “no comment”, and was released under investigation. More than a year later, on October 5, 2024, a boy living on Deacon Street picked up the loaded pistol in his back garden and gave it to his nan, who reported it to Merseyside Police.
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The gun, a Belgian model firing 25 ACP ammunition, had a bullet in its barrel, and a further bullet was found in its magazine (the device that feeds ammunition into a repeating firearm). At Liverpool Crown Court today, prosecutor Paul Blasbery said: “That pistol was successfully test-fired, which confirmed the viability of the firearm, and confirmed its identity as a self-loading pistol.”
Reilly, who has 38 previous convictions for 65 offences, pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition, possession with intent to supply class A drugs, and having custody of counterfeit notes. He appeared in court on crutches, as his defence, Daniel Travers, explained: “In September last year, in drink, he fell from a second floor balcony in this country, having an open-point fracture and breaks in his left leg.” He added that Reilly continued to suffer from poor mobility as a result of his injuries.
Speaking in mitigation, he said: “The defendant himself is appalled and has nightmares about the fact that a child found the firearm, and he’s instructed to me that his contact with that firearm is historic. But he fully accepts and understand that it’s an appalling fact that a child was holding a firearm that could have been fired.”
He said Reilly’s mitigation was “limited”, but added: “His partner speaks of another side to Reilly, how he was an active stepfather to her daughter, and very much to her disappointment was in custody when their son was born. His first child, a son, was born very shortly after he went into custody. Reilly knows how badly he has let them down.”
Sentencing Reilly, Judge Denis Watson, said: “The firearms offence is aggravated by the fact there’s matching ammunition with the gun, in the sense there was one bullet in the chamber and one in the magazine. I bear in mind you’re not said to be the owner of this (gun), but you had possession of it. Your possession, I’m told, is historic, but it must have been very hands-on for you to leave your DNA preserved in the internal receiver and the slider.”
He sentenced Reilly to five years on the firearms charges, and a further two years and three months for possession with intent to supply, totalling seven years and three months behind bars. A nine month sentence for having custody of counterfeit notes will run concurrently to his drugs sentence.