Man jailed after Skorpion sub-machine gun linked to huge Greater Manchester Police firearms bust

A man has been jailed after a Skorpion sub-machine gun was linked to a huge Greater Manchester Police firearms and drugs investigation.

Michael Feeley, 47, was locked up for seven years by a judge at a sentencing hearing at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court on Tuesday. Police said he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of possession of a firearm in relation to two Skorpion guns.

The force said that in 2020, police in West Yorkshire located a sub-machine gun and ammunition hidden under a pillow in a bed at an address in Beeston, Leeds. Another man was subsequently arrested, charged and jailed for possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of ammunition.

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But GMP said after the weapon and ammo were forensically examined, DNA results matched the gun to Feeley. A forensic scientist said it was a billion times more likely the major DNA contributor was Feeley than that of an unknown individual.

GMP said that at the time, detectives were unaware that once secretive Encrochat messages would later link Feeley to their large-scale operation into firearms trafficking. A spokesman said when the connection was made, police were able to 'build a case' against Feeley, from Cramlington, Northumberland.

The once top-secret messaging system - used by drug dealers, gun runners and gangs - operated on customised Android mobile phones. Accessed by a secure password, a user on the platform was given a unique 'handle' instead of their real name.

But in what was described as a