A man caught with a loaded gun on his hip has been jailed for ten years.

Dion Cholmondeley, from St George’s, had been out drinking with friends when he was stopped by officers as he drove along St Mary’s Road in Warwick on the evening of August 16, last year.

The 33-year-old was told to put his hands on the roof of the car as he was detained and then told police that he was in possession of a firearm.

Prosecutor Nicole Smith said that when asked why he had a loaded gun on him, Cholmondeley told officers: “I need it for protection, guys are trying to kill me.”

Cholmondeley’s lawyer, Charles Richardson, said his client had no memory of making the comment.

Mr Richardson added that only one of the officers involved in his arrest had included the comment in a statement.

He told the Supreme Court that Cholmondeley had found the Glock 9mm handgun in his vehicle earlier in the evening and had tucked it into his pants.

The defence lawyer maintained that the gun was in a “dirty, rusting condition” and must have been “lying around for a while”.

Mr Richardson added: “Only one of the four rounds in the gun actually fired. The gun was sent away for forensic testing to see if it matched firearms used in other shootings, which it did not.

“He just found it and was not sure what he would have done with it.”

Cholmondeley admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition at a prior hearing in October.

He had no previous convictions.

Cholmondeley said: “I want to apologise to the court and to my family. Life is about choices and that night I made a bad choice. I am willing to accept responsibility for that.”

Puisne Judge Charles Etta Simmons imposed sentences of ten years’ imprisonment for possessing the firearm and nine years for possessing the ammunition.

She accepted that any statement Cholmondeley had made to police at the time of his arrest had been “drunken” comments.

Mrs Justice Simmons said the sentences for the separate charges would run concurrently.

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