A heroin addict who allowed a drugs gang to store a sawn-off shotgun at his house was told "if you swim with the sharks you get bitten" by a judge.

William McWilliams, 56, became involved with drug dealers through his heroin addiction and it was they who used the understairs cupboard in his house to store the weapon.

Judge Simon Medland said McWilliams' drug addiction had led him to "dark and dangerous places" and his case showed how drugs destroy people's lives.

McWilliams, of Clement Street, Accrington, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a self-loading/pump action smooth-bore gun in July 2022, and has been in custody since then.

Prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, Stephen Parker said: “On Friday, September 2, 2021, police officers attended the defendant’s home address where he lived with his then partner.

“During the search in an understairs cupboard, having removed various items, they saw a curtain on the floor. They moved it aside and saw the stock of a firearm.

“It was believed to be a sawn-off shotgun. It was sent off to be analysed.

“Also found was a Marigold glove which inside were two shotgun cartridges which fit that gun.”

Analysis of the gun found that it did fire.

McWilliams, did not have a license for the gun.

Mitigating, Philip Barnes said McWilliams had initially denied knowledge of the gun, telling officers they would not find his fingerprints on it.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland said: “As you heard me observing, if your life is such you can continue to swim with the sharks, it is perhaps inevitable you will get bitten at some point, and this is what happened here.

“It is another example of how Class A drugs destroy people’s lives. That led you into the company of some dark and dangerous people who used you to store their weapon.

“I am sure it is not yours, I am sure in many ways it is nothing to do with you, but you were the store man because you could not say no.

“In human terms I acknowledge the steps you have taken to lead a straightforward life.

"The good work you have done on behalf of others, such as food parcels you have packed for your church and all the rest of it.

“It is perhaps a lesson to others to steer clear of the drugs trade.”

Judge Medland sentenced McWilliams to five years in prison, minus time spent on remand.