A firearms specialist who stashed a hoard of military weapons and ammunition at his suburban home was yesterday given a suspended prison sentence.A police raid on Nicholas Genito's home in Helsinki Way in Dereham last June uncovered 416-rounds of ammunition - including a box of 59mm Luger cartridges from Nato stock, a prohibited rifle and a CS gas spray.

A firearms specialist who stashed a hoard of military weapons and ammunition at his suburban home was yesterday given a suspended prison sentence.

A police raid on Nicholas Genito's home in Helsinki Way in Dereham last June uncovered 416-rounds of ammunition - including a box of 59mm Luger cartridges from Nato stock, a prohibited rifle and a CS gas spray.

Norwich Crown Court was told the 38-year-old former territorial army soldier had “forgot about what he had”.

Genito admitted possessing the ammunition and a firearm without a firearms certificate and possessing a prohibited weapon on June 1 last year.

Judge Jeremy Richards gave Genito a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18-months, and ordered him to do 150-hours unpaid work and pay £800 costs.

The police raid was sparked after the father-of-three tried to sell military equipment over the internet.

The court heard that Genito had carried out civilian security work in Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and had been struggling to find another career.

Ian James, defending, said Genito went into the fencing business but discovered he was allergic to sawdust.

“For the best part of twenty years he has been involved with the military and furthered his professional scope in the security business, for which he has been remunerated quite well,” he said.

“He has a history of honest living. This has been an oversight. He just forgot about what he had.”

He said that the stash was kept in a gun cabinet in the garage and that the ammunition had been acquired legitimately.

Andrew Shaw, prosecuting, said that the rifle was prohibited as it had two firing pins from Nato stock.

He added that in an interview following the raid, Genito admitted buying ballistic military body armour from the RAF overseas.

The court heard that Genito had a firearms certificate issued by Cambridgeshire police but it had not been valid since 1998.

Judge Richards told Genitio: “Firearms are of great public concern as if they fall into the wrong hands they can be used to take life or commit crime.”