Pensioner caught with firearm from Second World War pleads guilty to crimes in court
His firearm is one that was commonly manufactured during the Second World War - but not by the Allied forces.
A pensioner who was found to have owned a firearm from the Second World War has appeared in court.
Graham Beech, 70 from Elmore Road, Lee-on-the-Solent, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, May 26), having been charged with multiple offences.
The pensioner pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a firearm, and one count of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, but not guilty to possessing a firearm without a certificate, and one count of threatening a person with an offensive weapon in a public place.
The Crown Prosecution Service alleges that on January 6 last year, Beech threatened a man in Skipper Way with an offensive weapon, namely a police-style baton. The court was also told of how his firearm, which he admitted owning, is a model with roots in the Second World War.
On January 12 last year, Beech was found to be in possession of a Radom FB Vis Mod 35 pistol. A sidearm that fires 9×19mm parabellum rounds, the FB Vis is a Polish weapon that went into production in 1935. It was adopted as the standard sidearm of the Polish Army one year later.
When Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1939, the Fabryka Broni factory in Radom was seized by the Axis powers, with the Germans continuing the pistol’s manufacturing - issuing the sidearm to Waffen-SS units.
To date, more than 360,000 of the pistols have been made, but mass production only took place between 1935-1945, followed by limited re-issues.
Beech was remanded on unconditional bail, and will be sentenced on Friday, July 24.