Two young Corby men jailed for five years each after buying firearms from a pal

Two young Corby men who bought pistols capable of firing deadly rounds have been jailed.

Leon Reid, 22, and Kane Jordan, 21, both bought converted started pistols from pal Jack Sikora.

Northampton Crown Court heard this afternoon (Friday, February 24) how Sikora bought six of the blank-firing weapons from Pellpax near Norwich in summer last year.

He quickly converted them so they were capable of firing live rounds.

The court heard how Jordan was an ‘active and busy dealer, primarily in Class-A drugs’.

Sikora sold an Ekol Volga to Jordan which was later found by police in a locked drawer in Jordan’s HMO in Rochester Road. The pistol had been bought by Sikora on August 3 and was converted and in Jordan’s possession just three days later when his house was raided.

Analysis showed it had already been fired. Jordan’s DNA was found on the weapon.

Texts between the two were found – including 34 just on August 5. One, sent by Sikora to Jordan, read: “Can I now pick that up I’ll drop your bells off?”

Bells are thought to refer to bullets.

Then there was another message saying: “Yo, when you coming, I can’t keep this here.”

Along with the weapon, police also found 8.5g of cocaine and 331 MDMA tablets with Jordan’s fingerprints on them.

Jordan admitted possession of a prohibited weapon; possession of ammunition without a firearms certificate; cocaine possession with intent to supply; possession of MDMA with intent to supply and possession of ketamine with intent to supply.

The court was told he has a previous conviction for possession of CS gas from 2021.

Leon Reid admitted possession of a prohibited weapon – a Retay PT23 – and possession of ammunition without a firearms certificate. He denied possession of a class-A drug and the prosecution said they were content to accept the plea and allow the charge to lie on file.

The court heard how a loaded Retay PT23 pistol was discovered at Reid’s home when police raided it on September 7 along with a bag of cocaine. The gun was hanging in a bag in the garden and Reid’s DNA was found on the trigger.

Officers also found another imitation firearm and an imitation machine gun, as well as £2,360 in cash.

In interview, Reid told officers that he’d earned it working cash-in-hand for his uncle.

Reid, of Epsom Walk, also has a previous conviction for possession of cocaine from June last year.

Both wearing grey tracksuits, the pair spoke only to confirm their names.

Several female relatives sobbed in the public gallery as the facts were read to the court and Reid’s pregnant girlfriend put her head in her hands.

In mitigation, barrister Jonathan Rosen said that his client Reid had visited Sikora’s house with his pal Keane Jordan and had seen what he believed to be a pellet gun, in which he had an interest. He then took the gun for himself and had been firing it in the garden.

But His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo said: “These are live rounds. This is not a pellet gun, this is a gun that fires live rounds with lethal force.

"If you fire a pellet gun it might kill a sparrow. This could kill a human.”

Mr Rosen said Reid was a heavy cocaine user at the time but was now about to become a father and start to ‘grow up.’

Mitigating for Jordan, Liam Muir said his client had kept the gun locked up and it had not been outside the house.

Sentencing, Judge Mayo said: “These weapons are highly dangerous in the right hands, and lethal in the wrong hands.”

Reid was given a five year sentence and must serve half of it in custody before being eligible for release on licence.

Jordan was given five years and seven months on the same terms.

- At a previous hearing Sikora, 21, of Thoresby Court, admitted eight charges all relating to the week of August 1 when the taxi he was in stopped in the car park of Corby Urgent Care Centre, forcing the whole building to lockdown while he was arrested by armed police.

He pleaded guilty to: possession of cocaine with intent to supply it; possession of a modified Ekol Alp starting pistol capable of firing live ammunition; possession with intent to sell the same gun; the sale of that gun to Keane Jordan; attempted possession of a modified Retay PT23 blank firing pistol, capable of firing live ammo; attempted possession of that same gun with the intention of sale or transfer of it; the sale or transfer of that gun and; possession of bullet cartridges without a firearms certificate.

Although Sikora pleaded guilty to the charges against him, the the court will consider at a later date whether there was coercion involved. He will be sentenced in April.