A SWINDON criminal was caught with a gun, drugs and £9,000 in cash after terrifying innocent victims in a road rage incident.

Connor Livingstone had the pistol hidden away in his kitchen, and initially claimed that police had previously allowed him to keep the weapon.

But it was heard at Swindon Crown Court how the 24-year-old previously searched the internet for a Beretta gun, forcing him to abandon his position.

Earlier that day, police had pursued him and cousin Billy through Swindon, after a road rage incident where they confronted innocent road users, causing them to fear that Connor had a knife.

He was jailed for five years and four months after the judge determined he held the illegal weapon in relation to “criminality which has substantial financial benefit to you”.

As previously reported, cousins Billy and Connor Livingstone were in a Mercedes hire vehicle, taken without consent from a friend after watching an England match on June 22, driving along Drakes Way when Billy, the driver, twice cut up an Audi A1.

He slammed the brakes on, causing the Audi to carry out an emergency stop, and emerged to confront the couple in the vehicle.

They walked up “aggressively” to the car, with Connor emerging first and confronting the male passenger, putting his face up against the window and telling him to “get out of the f****** car”, Swindon Crown Court heard on Thursday.

“[The driver] was scared and shocked, they were locked in a vehicle unable to move,” Judge Peter Crabtree told the court. “They were in essence trapped.”

After about 25 seconds, the cousins got back into the car, but the slow traffic meant they ended up side-by-side at the next set of traffic lights. Here, the driver said that Billy threw a water bottle at the car.

Police spotted the Mercedes A200, on Corporation Street, and Billy mounted the pavement in an effort to get away. As part of the “highly aggressive” driving that “showed disregard for other road users”, Billy mounted the pavement to get away, and came to a screeching halt when seeing a police officer with a stinger.

The pursuit ended when the damaged vehicle limped to Northampton Street, and the pair dumped it and went to the Merlin pub, where they were arrested.

At Billy’s house, £4,175 of cash and more than £9,500 of Class A drugs were found. However, a search of Connor’s kitchen found the illegal handgun hidden away in the kitchen, as well as around 50 grams of cannabis and £9,000 in bundles hidden under the sink.

Swindon Crown Court also heard that the firearm had “been converted to fire projectiles”, and posed a risk of causing “serious and potentially life-threatening injuries”.

Judge Crabtree deemed it a Type 1 weapon – one capable of killing two or more people in quick succession. Found with the gun was ammunition.

He added: “The weapon was insecure in a flat, occupied by you who has a criminal record including convictions for affray, possession of a different type of weapon and associated with others including your cousin Billy who has a record of criminal behaviour.”

But defending, Tony Bignall told the court that his client had “limited capabilities” as a result of Asperger's Syndrome.

He added that Billy, his younger cousin, was providing protection for Connor in prison, but he has since been transferred to Erlestoke after being sentenced to three years and nine months at a previous hearing in January.

Mr Bignall added: “I dare say [Emma] Handslip who looked after Billy [might disagree], it looked to me that Billy was the driving force in this offending, and Connor was being loyal to him because Billy helped him out in the past.”

The case was due for a hearing on Thursday afternoon, with Mr Bignall set to argue on his client’s behalf that the police had previously searched his property and allowed him to continue holding the weapon. However, after prosecutor Charley Pattison presented new evidence of his search history, including for a gun, the hearing did not go ahead.

Judge Crabtree instead proceeded to sentence, and condemned Livingstone, of Cromer Court, for his violent actions in the altercation with the Audi A1 on June 23, but accepted that “mental health and mild learning difficulties” are relevant factors.

However, he summarised a psychiatric report which read: “Your learning difficulties are not such that would interfere with your ability to know what was wrong, or to have interfered with you to have assumed the consequences of your actions.”

Livingstone, who fell to be sentenced for some six offences including affray, possession of criminal property, possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition, possession of cannabis and being carried in a vehicle taken without consent, was jailed for a total of five years and four months.

The drugs, weapon and cash were forfeited.