Robert Wiseman of New Milton handed five-year prison sentence after he admits weapons charges at Southampton Crown Court

Police found a cache of weapons and ammunition when they raided the home of 62-year-old New Milton man.

Robert Wiseman, of Raleigh Close, was handed a five-year prison sentence when he appeared at Southampton Crown Court.

He told officers after his arrest that “everyone should be able to use, if not own, a firearm”, the court heard.

Prosecutor Kelly Brocklehurst told the court that officers searched Wiseman’s home on 21st December 2021 after a National Crime Agency investigation.

They found a haul of items including manuals and tools relating to weapons, as well as firearm components and ammunition.

The collection was “very much an interest in engineering”, Mr Brocklehurst said, adding Wiseman was “frank” with police in interview.

The components Wiseman had collected meant he had “got far” in creating a .22 revolver, an expert report said, with plans also found at his home for making a pistol.

A video of the gun being fired was released by the NCA after the case, with a spokesperson explaining the build had been completed by an expert to prove the viability of what Wiseman had begun manufacturing.

The court heard Wiseman had been given a three-year prison sentence in 1997 for possession of a shortened shotgun without a certificate. He was subsequently banned for life from keeping weapons.

Defending, Ed Wild told the court Wiseman was remorseful and would lose his job and home if he was sent to prison. He urged Judge Nigel Peters KC to keep the sentence as short as he could given Wiseman’s early guilty pleas and the current conditions of prisons.

He added Wiseman had not been part of an organised group to manufacture weapons, and there was no expectation of a financial advantage from assembling the guns.

There had been a “genuine misunderstanding” about the terms of his prohibition, he added.

At a previous hearing Wiseman admitted attempting to manufacture a weapon, possessing a firearm without a certificate and possessing ammunition without a certificate and when prohibited.

Handing Wiseman a five-year term, Judge Peters KC said: “You clearly have a major interest in this field. You said ‘everyone should be able to use and have possession of, if not own, a firearm’ – this is not the USA, this is Great Britain, and it is unlawful and illegal.”

While there had been no suggesting of trading the items, the offences showed a degree of planning, he added. Judge Peters KC also noted the offences had been hanging over Wiseman since 2021.

He ordered the seized items be destroyed, and said upon Wiseman’s release a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order would be in place.