Vic: Gold miner escapes jail over guns

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-1999
Vic: Gold miner escapes jail over guns

A goldminer and owner of a country museum who faced a maximum four-year jail term for
possessing five machine guns has walked free from court on a suspended sentence.

Three of the machine guns - found hidden in the roof cavity of a converted church -
had loaded magazines and all five were in perfect working order.

IAN MAXWELL PARKER, 42, of Moliagul, near Maryborough, central Victoria, was originally
charged with the unlawful possession of 20 high powered weapons.

This following a police raid on his museum on May 8 1997.

PARKER has been a lifelong collector of military weapons, equipment and memorabilia
and is the legal owner of two Centurian tanks and a Saracen armoured car.

In sentencing, County Court judge MERVYN KIMM, said it was not suggested by the Crown
that PARKER kept the machine guns for any sinister purpose.

PARKER and his wife had run a museum from the old church building for several years
and had ambitions of turning it into a military museum.

He pleaded guilty to possession of one belt-fed machine gun, two .303 Bren light machine
guns and two F1A1 nine milimetre sub-machine guns.

AAP RTV sew/ag/pjg

KEYWORD: PARKER (MELBOURNE)

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