An Albury man found with a home-made .22 calibre pistol secreted inside a plastic toy gun casing is now wanted by police after failing to turn up to court.
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The "bolt gun" was uncovered when police searched a car to which Wesley Wayne Kennedy had earlier been seen fixing number plates belonging to another car.
Kennedy was not charged over the plates, but was to have been sentenced this week on charges of possess an unauthorised pistol, possess an unregistered pistol and not keep a firearm safely.
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Defence lawyer Bronte Winn told magistrate Richard Funston that she had tried to contact Kennedy without success.
With that, she said, she was withdrawing her representation for Kennedy, who was on bail.
Kennedy, 37, was also facing sentence on charges of driving with a mid-range prescribed concentration of alcohol, a second offence of driving while disqualified and drive with an unrestrained passenger. He previously pleaded guilty.
The driving offences were from three years ago. Kennedy was seen driving south on David Street, South Albury, near the intersection with Ebden Street, on April 16, 2017, just after 3am.
He was stopped for a random breath test and asked for his licence, which he couldn't produce before admitting he had been disqualified for drink-driving and driving while disqualified.
The breath test was positive and it was then noticed by police that one of his five passengers was not wearing a seat belt.
Kennedy later provided a reading of 0.09. He told police had had been drinking alcohol for three days, including about 12 stubbies of beer since lunch-time the previous day.
The firearms charges ultimately resulted from an incident on January 27 when number plates were removed from a car parked in front of a house in Highview Crescent, Lavington.
About 10am the next day, Kennedy and an accomplice were seen fixing plates to a car in North Albury. Soon after, police saw the pair at a park in Wingara Street.
They were stopped and told they were under arrest.
They refused to hand over the keys, which were found under a tree in a nearby front yard.
After the pair were taken to Albury police station, the car - by now in the police holding yard - was searched and a "bum bag" containing Kennedy's phone and the pistol was found.