Two in court on Hastings firearm charge
03 March 2016
Two people have appeared in court after police recovered a firearm in Hastings.
Tamara Callan, 42, and Antony Hearn, 43, appeared in custody, via videolink, at Brighton Magistrates Court on Thursday (3 March), charged with possession of a semi-automatic machine pistol and ammunition with intent to endanger life, contrary to Section 16 of the Firearms Act 1968.
Callan was given court bail to reside at Stathnairn Street, Eltham, South East London. Hearn, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody.
Both are to appear at Lewes Crown Court on 31 March.
Officers from Sussex Police, working with the National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested the pair in Wellington Square, Hastings town centre on the afternoon of Tuesday 1 March, and the weapon was found in the footwell of a car there.
The arrests, which followed an investigation by Sussex Police, were carried out safely and without violence or injury. Armed police officers were involved but no shots were fired.
Five men, one aged 22 from Hastings, one aged 41 from Chatham, one aged 35 from South East London, one aged 46 also from South east London, and one aged 23 from St Leonards, who were also arrested on Tuesday 1 March in Hastings and Bexhill on suspicion of being concerned in the sale or transfer of a prohibited weapon and ammunition, were released on police bail until 1 and 2 June while enquiries continue.
If you have any information relating to firearms offences in the Hastings area you can contact Sussex Police via [email protected] call 101 quoting Operation Bingo.
Alternatively you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. (www.crimestoppers-org.uk)
The arrests are not connected with the police investigation into shots which were fired at a building in Devonshire Road, Hastings, on Sunday (28 February), and are not terrorist-related.