A 70-year-old man has been fined after police found him with rifle ammunition without a relevant licence.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard that William Whitecross, of Mossgiel Crescent, Linlathen, had been visited by police on an unconnected matter and the .22 rifle cartridges were spotted in the house.
Fiscal depute Lynne Mannion told the court the accused held a shotgun certificate but had no entitlement to possess rifle cartridges.
Ms Mannion said when police attended at his home on another matter there was a shotgun in a locked cabinet in the house and a glass containing the .22 rifle cartridges.
His shotgun certificate was there but it related only to shotgun ammunition, the fiscal said.
“He told police the ammunition had been given to him by someone and he had meant to destroy it, but just hadn’t got round to it,” she said.
Solicitor John Boyle told the court: “That was it in a nutshell. He has held shotgun licences for several years and he was given these rifle cartridges some time before and he had kept them in the attic for some time.
“He had recovered them from the attic and the police found he did not have a relevant licence for them.”
Whitecross admitted that he possessed a quantity of rifle ammunition without holding a firearms certificate which was in force at the time at Mossgiel Crescent on May 31 last year.
Sheriff Tom Hughes said that the circumstances were “very unusual” and told Whitecross he should have been fined £1,000.
However, since he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, the sheriff was able to discount that to £650 to reflect the early plea.
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