The owner of what was said to be Dublin's oldest licensed gun-dealing firm has received a five-year suspended sentence for having a pistol used to murder a biker.
Robert Watts pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a 9 mm Mauser semi-automatic pistol, of 1916 vintage, at his home in Roselawn View, Castleknock, between January 1st, 1992 and May 1st, 1994. Judge Cyril Kelly at Dublin Criminal Court said Watts was a person of unblemished character up to this matter. The evidence showed he posed no threat to society and was unlikely to reoffend. His livelihood might also suffer as a result of the conviction.
Det Sgt Sean Nolan told Mr Tom O'Connell, prosecuting, Watts got the gun from a man who came into his Ormond Quay shop in Dublin. He eventually sold it - after many requests - for £150 to another gun enthusiast and it was later transmitted through a third person to a man who used it to murder Mr Stephen Murphy at a bikers' rally in Carnew, Co Wicklow on May 1st, 1994.
Watts told gardai he believed the man who bought the gun would restore it "to its former pristine glory" as he was a firearms "fanatic".
Watts was arrested on August 23rd, 1996 during the inquiry into the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin and made several statements to gardai about the gun.
Det Sgt Nolan agreed with Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, defending, that Watts came from a highly respectable background. His father began the Watts business in 1930.