A WOMAN who helped an armed criminal gang to hide weapons has been jailed for two years.
Kimberley Woodhouse hid a homemade slam-gun in her garden shed after she dismantled the weapon under the instruction of Kyle Hamilton.
The 24-year-old was a member of an organised crime group who caused chaos when they went on a shooting spree targeting rivals in an orgy of violent attacks.
Hamilton was jailed for to six years after being found guilty of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear or alarm.
It was while he was on remand for the attacks in December 2019 that he contacted Woodhouse asking her to hide the slam-gun, which is a homemade shotgun, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said there were a number of phone calls between the defendant and Hamilton while he was being held in prison.
During one of the calls, the 39-year-old tells Hamilton that the slam-gun had been dismantled and store away.
She added: “As a result of the on December 5, 2020, police attended the defendant’s home and searched the premises. Within a shed they found the ‘slam-gun’ which had been dismantled.
“She was arrested and interviewed and questioned about her relationship with Hamilton, she said she classed herself as his ‘aunt’ and had been best friends with his mother for 20 years.”
Miss Masters said the gun would have been workable if it was put back together after the defendant pulled it apart following Hamilton’s request.
Woodhouse, of Rhodes Court, Thornaby, pleaded guilty to a charge of assisting an offender.
Gary Wood, in mitigation, said his client accepted her behaviour had been foolish and had changed her story during the case as she had ‘panicked’ after pleading guilty.
He urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence.
Judge Timothy Stead told Woodhouse that her offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence was applicable and jailed her for two years.
He said: “Someone came to you with a homemade gun, it was a slam-gun, which looks to the untrained eye innocuous but it is deadly, it is in effect a shortened-shotgun.
“It is the sort of weapon that can only have one purpose and that is a criminal purpose. It is not suggested that you were the person with any criminal intent to use that weapon, of course you weren’t, but you were asked to look after it and keep it safe.
“No doubt to be returned to the owner and you agreed to do that.”
Gang leader Scott Mizsei was at the heart of the cocaine dealing operation and was involved in three of the firearms attack which took place in one night of violence.
The 34-year-old targeted the houses in Thornaby and Stockton when he blasted a pump action shotgun at windows and doors.
Earlier this month, the court heard how there was two adults and child sleeping upstairs in the property on Victor Way, Thornaby, but the other two addresses, on Tarring Street and Stirling Way, were both empty at the time of the shootings in December 2019.
Mizsei and other members of the gang were jailed for their role in the violence.
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