WIREDGOV

An IT manager who concocted an elaborate story to purchase a gun from the dark web was yesterday sentenced to five years for his conspiracy to import a firearm and ammunition at Bristol Crown Court.

Darren Hillyer, aged 38, of Milton Keynes, posed as a woman aiming to exact revenge on a paedophile ex-lover. Hillyer ordered a Ruger LC9 9mm handgun and 50 rounds of ammunition from an account on a dark web forum under the guise of ‘Emma’.

He was unaware that the package he was due to receive was in fact a plastic replica hidden inside a DAB radio which was under the control of officers from the National Crime Agency.

Hillyer had contacted 47 year-old Ian MacPhee, from Newton Abbot, Devon, who he had met online in a chat room but had never met in person, and convinced him to receive the package and forward it to him.

As MacPhee entered a post office in Newton Abbott  ignorant of what was in the parcel, NCA Officers moved in and arrested him on the morning of 28 July 2015.

After tracing the forwarding address, officers arrested Hillyer later that afternoon at an insolvency company in Euston, London, where he worked as an IT manager.

When officers spoke to Hillyer’s colleagues they described him as a ‘fantasist’ and a ‘Walter Mitty type character’. They said he claimed that he that worked for the intelligence and security services who had issued him a gun.

Under interview Hillyer also claimed his activity on the dark web was part of research to help him apply to join the NCA.

Hillyer and MacPhee appeared at Bristol Crown Court on 10 September 2015, with Hillyer pleading guilty to conspiracy to import a firearm and ammunition. MacPhee pled guilty to attempting to evade the duty on an imported item.

Hillyer was sentenced to five years imprisonment with MacPhee ordered to pay a £275 fine at Bristol Crown Court on 26 November 2015.

Peter Vernon, senior investigating officer for the NCA, said:

"Hillyer appeared to be using the dark web to play out a fantasy, his sentencing has hopefully provided a dose of reality for those looking to illegally purchase firearms online under the supposed anonymity of dark web forums. It is another reminder to criminals, you can be tracked and brought to justice.

“Ensuring that illegal firearms cannot be sourced in this way is a national security priority and we will continue to work tirelessly to prevent and disrupt those involved in the buying and selling of firearms on the dark web.”