A man has been jailed for five years after a handgun was found in his house.
Armed police units swooped on a house in Orange Gardens, The Meadows, following intelligence that there was an illegal gun inside.
Firearms officers conducted a search and a pistol was found in the loft, with ammunition located in the living room and inside a toilet bowl in the bathroom.Inside the property were Callum Hopps and a woman. Both surrendered and were arrested at the scene.
The woman gave no comment in her police interview, while Hopps provided a prepared statement that read: “I have no knowledge of the firearm or ammunition.”
The brother, Sean Hopps, later handed himself into police and claimed he had been forced to keep hold of the gun by violent drugs dealers he owed money to.
He also told police his brother Callum and the woman had nothing to do with the gun.
However, forensic analysis found Callum’s DNA on the weapon – and so both brothers were charged.
No further action was taken against the woman.
Sean and Callum Hopps went on to plead guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition following the search warrant, on the evening of 3 February 2020.
They appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (8 March) for sentencing.
Sean Hopps, aged 24, of Orange Gardens, The Meadows, was jailed for five years.
Callum Hopps, aged 31, of Canal Street, Nottingham city centre, was handed a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Julian Eminson-Ferry, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Thankfully firearms offences are extremely rare in Nottinghamshire and that’s because we are very proactive about getting guns off people before they can be used to cause harm.
“In this instance, the vigilance of our armed response and tactical firearms teams resulted in a dangerous weapon being seized and removed from society.
“Efforts had been made to hide the pistol by concealing it on top of loft insulation. However, we’re well-versed in carrying out such searches so were able to recover the weapon along with the ammunition.
“The overwhelming amount of evidence uncovered in the subsequent investigation left the brothers with no choice but to plead guilty and Sean Hopps now faces a lengthy spell behind bars to reflect on the consequences of his actions.
“Firearms can have deadly consequences and we’ll continue to take action to remove them from our communities and catch those involved.
“A lot of the work we’re doing to tackle firearms isn’t always visible but this case is an example of us acting on intelligence and taking dangerous criminals off the streets of Nottinghamshire.”
The firearms warrant that led to the brothers’ arrests was featured last year on Channel 5’s Police Interceptors TV documentary programme.
Episode 1 of Season 20 revealed how officers surrounded the house in Orange Gardens following intelligence that there was an illegal gun inside.
Footage shows Sergeant Katie Eustace quickly set up a scene to contain the area and officers moving in, preparing to come face-to-face with potentially armed suspects inside whilst the teams were searching as quickly and thoroughly as possible for the reported gun.
Officers at the front of the property could see a light on shouted to those inside the property to make their way out.
After around six minutes of the house being surrounded, the woman came outside the front door, followed by Callum Hopps shortly after. They were both detained and the property was searched.
As they went into the property, officers began searching each room in the three-floor property before heading to the loft, where the pistol was found in the insulation and safely recovered.
In the midst of the search, Sergeant Eustace was met with an ever-growing number of onlookers at the edge of the cordon which had since been put in place.
Sergeant Eustace, who has spent four of her 12 years with the force dedicated to the firearms squad, was able to combine her experience and multitasking abilities to liaise with senior officers, act on the instructions they were giving, whilst managing the crowds and the detainees who had become agitated.
“It was a challenge when it became quite chaotic,” she recalled. “But in the end it was really rewarding with the result we got.”
