Police swoop on military gun collector as he drives to his mum's He told Smith at Sheffield Crown Court: "I am quite satisfied that you are not a criminal and this is part of your hobby. I don't want historical artefacts to be destroyed and so I am not going to make an order to destroy these things. The court heard that Smith, from Barnsley, was taking his German uniform to be washed and pressed at his mother's home ready for a "living history" display by the Northern World War Two Association when he stopped off at a friend's flat. The society specialises in staging battle re-enactments for the public using a full range of period weapons and vehicles. Smith had packed the deactivated 1934 machine-gun and its bayonet, worth £3,000, along with two replica pistols, a Walther PPK and a P38 automatic, and some deactivated rounds of ammunition. The PPK was held together by Sellotape and the P38 only fires blanks. Neil Coxon, prosecuting, said: "He spent two hours [at his friends" home] and police were alerted because the gun was on the back seat. An armed response unit turned up and were on the point of putting a window through on the Wolseley when Mr Smith walked out of a flat 50 yards away. Mr Coxon said Smith was not prepared for the police to seize the guns and destroy them because they were valuable to him and the police felt they had no option but to press charges. Smith was due to stand trial but Judge Murphy argued that "common sense" should prevail. The judge said he hoped Smith had learned a "salutary lesson" with the police response, which reflected the times we live in. "What happened in Captain Mainwaring's time couldn't happen now," the judge added. Smith pleaded guilty but was allowed to keep his guns on condition they are in a locked cabinet at home and locked in his car boot while in transit. He was given a 12-month conditional discharge.