Thug jailed for 5 and half years after stashing gun following 4am smash in Northamptonshire town centre

A thug has been jailed for 5½ years after dumping a converted handgun under a car before fleeing a 4am town-centre crash in Northamptonshire.

Barry Toghill, who had previously broken a man's jaw and played a role in a cocaine dealing operation, was on a suspended sentence and still on licence when he added the firearms offence to his criminal CV.

He told a judge he had been a "shining example" of who probation workers would deal with up until the "night of madness'"— but was jailed for five years and six months despite his remorse.

Northampton Crown Court heard the 35-year-old had been was a passenger in a white Seat which came to the police's attention at about 4am on August 22.

Concerns had been raised that it may have been driven by a drink-driver and police attempted to speak to someone in the car in the town centre.

But the driver then sped off, crashing in nearby Silver Street.

CCTV showed four men fleeing the scene with one — later identified as Toghill — spotted putting something under the car which police found was the unloaded black-handled firearm.

The weapon was originally a blank firing pistol and had been altered so that the obstruction barrel had been removed, leaving it capable of successfully firing.

Three of the four occupants of the vehicle have not been identified but Toghill was caught after forensic examination crucially found his DNA on the weapon and on a car window.

He was asked to attend a police interview where he told officers a made-up version of events he no longer stands by.

Prosecuting, Jonathan Dunne said: "Mr Toghill said he thought that the gun was a toy which he had found in some bins when he attended a party."

Toghill was remanded in custody at HMP Peterborough and the contents of phone calls involving him in prison showed the weapon was not his. Prosecutors said, was in possession of the gun that night to dispose of it.

Toghill was given a 12-month suspended sentence for GBH before the March lockdown, the court heard.

He was talking amicably to someone in a pub when "out of nowhere" he punched him in the face and broke his jaw, prosecutors said. Toghill, of of Carrington Street in Kettering, claimed it was not unprovoked and that the victim had "behaved inappropriately" with a woman he was with.

He was jailed for seven years and three months in 2014 for conspiracy to supply cocaine over his role in an operation where Class A drugs were shifted from Northamptonshire to Southampton in taxis.

He was still on licence at the time of the incident in August but had been making good progress with a probation team, Toghill said.

Addressing Judge Rebecca Crane over a videolink, he said: "I was a shining example of who to deal with up until this night of madness."

Mitigating, Alex Krikler said Toghill had been furloughed because of the Covid pandemic and had lost the stability he had at work.

He had been out drinking on the night of the incident and said Toghill had let himself down.

Mr Krikler said: "He realises that, quite literally, that night has cost him everything he had been working towards.

"His family, his work and ultimately his liberty.

"He deeply regrets it and he is deeply sorry for what he has done. It was foolish in the extreme."

Sentencing, Judge Crane told Toghill she accepted that he was remorseful but that by admitting possession of a prohibited weapon he would be subject to a mandatory minimum sentence.

Toghill shook his head as he was told his sentence could not be below five years despite his guilty plea.

He was sentenced to five years in prison with an extra six months added after Judge Crane activated half of the GBH suspended sentence.

He will spend half in custody with the remainder on licence.