'Assassination kits' were produced for criminal gangs from the garden shed of weapons collector

Replica guns were turned into the real thing and then boxed up with bullets and sterile gloves ready for gangs across the country. These sat alongside crossbows, machetes and throwing stars, as ADAM DUTTON reports on the crown court trial

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A WEAPONS collector who made “assassination kits” for criminal gangs in his back garden is facing jail.

Ronald Knowles, 64, converted around 33 replica pistols into live firearms as well as bullets for 80 killing kits.

Each kit was packaged into boxes with silencers and latex gloves to help the shooters escape detection.

Knowles made the kits from a workshop in his home in Alfreton.

He then passed them to notorious “drugs general” Gary Hardy, 61, who sold them from his home in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire.

When armed police swooped on Knowles’ home they caught him burning a “treasure trove” of evidence in his garden.

An outbuilding contained lathes and a drill that the weapons collector used to make the silencers and convert the pistols and ammunition.

Police also seized throwing stars, machetes, crossbows and air weapons, and almost 1,000 bullets.

The gun factory was discovered as part of an investigation into Hardy by Nottinghamshire Police and the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU).

Knowles and Hardy were convicted of serious firearms offences at Nottingham Crown Court and will be sentenced at a later date.