A man who had £15,000 in criminal property and a BB gun hidden in a safe was told by a judge he should have handed the weapon into police or destroyed it.

Ashley Youngman, 27, had £1,575 in cash in his possession when he was arrested on September 8, 2017, and a police search of his address found a safe which had a further £4,000 and a gas-powered BB gun still its box inside, Norwich Crown Court heard.

Nicholas Bleaney, prosecuting, said the gun did not have ammunition and there was no evidence it had ever been used.

Mr Bleaney said that Youngman had a conviction for robbery in 2010, for which he received a four-year sentence, which meant that he was prohibited from possessing a weapon of this kind.

Mr Bleaney said that as well as the cash seized, it was found that Youngman also had other cash going into his bank account and in total had £15,000 in criminal property.

Youngman, of Middleton Road, Gorleston, admitted possession of criminal property and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

Andrew Oliver, mitigating, claimed Youngman was only keeping the BB gun in a safe place as it had been given as a present to a member of his family and he was making sure it was kept secure.

He said the £15,000 was cash he made buying and selling cars on the side and said: 'He was buying and selling cars. This was not an authorised business and he did not pay income tax.'

Mr Oliver added: 'This is something he has ceased doing.'

He said he only bought and sold cars for about a year and had stopped doing so in September 2017.

'He has had this case hanging over his head for some time,' he said.

He said he was now working as a scaffolder and was showing signs of maturing and had not been in any more trouble.

Jailing him for two years, recorder Peter Guest told Youngman that he knew he was a disqualified person, but had a BB gun anyway and his basis of plea was that the gun was bought as a present for a family member and he had disapproved and hid the gun in his safe in its box.

'This was a serious offence. You could have destroyed the weapon or taken it to a police station, but instead you decided to keep it.'

A confiscation hearing for the cash will be held at a later date.