A 35-YEAR-OLD Belfast man has been handed a five-year sentence after he admitted possessing a gun used in a "potentially murderous" attack upon a family home.
Belfast Crown Court heard on Monday that whilst there was no evidence to link Gerard Flannigan to the gun attack on a house at Velsheda Court in Ardoyne in September 2014, he took delivery of the semi-automatic pistol just hours after the shooting.
Despite initial denials Flannigan, from Colin View Street, pleaded guilty to three offences and was handed a five-year sentence. Judge Geoffery Miller told Flannigan that he will serve half his sentence in prison, with the remainder spent on licence upon his release.
The court heard that three children were at home when shots were fired at the male occupant of the property in an attack branded as "cold-planned" and "potentially murderous" by Judge Miller.
Crown prosecutor Terence Mooney QC said Flannigan was arrested after the gun used in the attack was found wrapped in two plastic bags underneath his partner's parked car the following day.
He subsequently pleaded guilty to three offences - namely possession of a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing the semi-automatic pistol without a firearm certificate, and possessing ammunition without a firearm certificate.
Defence barrister Greg Berry told the court Flannigan came before the court at the age of 35 with no previous convictions.
Passing sentence, Judge Miller pointed out that Flannigan had "offered no explaination" for how or why he came to be in possession of the gun, as well as displaying no remorse.
He also branded Flannigan's initial acertion in his pre-prepared statement to police as "completely untrue".
