South Yorkshire gun crime: Man jailed over gun and ammo found ditched in garden in Denaby, Doncaster

Jay Benton, 31, of Tickhill Square, Denaby Main, between Rotherham and Doncaster, pleaded guilty on June 13 2023 and was sentenced yesterday (June 20 2023) at Sheffield Crown Court to three years for possession of a firearm and three months for possession of the ammunition, which will run concurrently.

The court had heard that on October 4, 2021, police recovered a loaded firearm and a magazine containing seven bullets, which had been discarded in a garden at Todmorden Close, also in Denaby Main. A forensic examination later linked Benton to the firearm and ammunition.

Det Cons Mark Roostan, said: “I am really pleased with the work our officers have completed around this case which has resulted in a firearm and ammunition being removed from the streets of Doncaster.

“I hope this sentence serves as a warning to those who continue to possess firearms illegally that we will come after you and we will not tolerate firearms on our streets.”

The jail sentence comes weeks after statistics showed firearm offences recorded by South Yorkshire Police rose by 42 per cent last year, as the force revealed that it had seized 18 firearms this year.

Figures for the 2022 calendar year, recently released by the Office of National Statistics, show the number of firearm offences recorded by South Yorkshire Police increased from 228 in the year ending December 2021, to 324 in the year ending December 2022.