TWO teenage friends arrested alongside a gunman were both jailed yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court was told the teenagers were in a Jaguar car driven by Manchester criminal Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy, which was stopped by police on the A167 near Coatham Mundeville, Darlington. Hidden in the battery compartment next to the engine was a handgun and five bullets.

Last week, Lattlay-Fottfoy, 42, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years after a jury found him guilty of possessing the gun and ammunition.

Adam Walker, 18, and Aaron Berry, 19, also from Manchester, pleaded guilty to the same offences.

Police were watching Lattlay-Fottfoy's home in Moston, Manchester, when the three, who were accompanied by a schoolboy, came out.

Walker was carrying the concealed gun before the car's bonnet was lifted up.

Jeremy Hill-Baker, prosecuting, said the gun and bullets were found when police stopped the car at 2pm on Monday, May 9.

Jonnie Walker, in mitigation, said the pair were extremely brave to plead guilty when Lattlay-Fottfoy had said the gun and bullets were planted by other men when he parked the car outside a house in Darlington the day before.

Judge Michael Taylor told the pair that they had been used by a violent, dangerous and professional criminal.

He said: "You two were tools being used by him. In the light of his maligned influence, the pair of you had the courage to plead guilty. I was in the position to see that he was trying to influence you during the course of the trial."

He sent them both to a young offenders' institution for 30 months.

They have already been in custody for 208 days, which will be deducted from their sentences.