Crime lord jailed for running 'assassin kit' gang

'FAR-REACHING' TRADE IN CONVERTED FIREARMS

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

ONE of Nottinghamshire's most notorious crime lords, who organised the making and selling of “assassination kits” to drug dealers and other criminals across the UK, has been jailed for more than two decades.

Nottingham Crown Court was told how Gary Hardy, known for being one of the leading figures in organised crime in the city and county, controlled the supply of the kits which were packed with a handgun, silencer, magazine and ammunition wrapped in latex gloves.

The 62-year-old paid fellow conspirator Ronald Knowles to acquire blank firing handguns and ammunition which he converted into viable firearms at his home. Hardy then sent the packages to fellow crime lord Steven Houston, who supplied the weapons to members of the criminal underworld, including convicted murderer Jason Hill.

When 23-year-old Hill's then-home near Long Eaton was raided, officers found two handguns, two silencers and ammunition in a safe hidden in the garden.

Jailing the four-strong gang for a combined total of more than 65 years, Judge Mark Watson said: "Between you, you were responsible for the manufacture and sale of firearms that were sold to criminals to endanger the lives of others and which were rightly described as 'assassination kits. These were high quality conversions.

"Gary Hardy, you have a background in high-level organised crime and I am satisfied you put this together and I am also satisfied you oversaw matters. This was a business which at its core was selling to criminals and to make money on items which endangered life."

A four-month trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard how, in August 2023, police stopped a vehicle at Gallows Lane, Measham, and recovered four weapons, each with a silencer and multiple rounds of ammunition.

Detectives linked the firearms to both Hardy and Knowles, and descended on the latter's home while he set fire to evidence in his garden.