A MEMBER of the Hells Angel gang involved in the murder of biker Gerry Tobin on the M40 last year has been jailed for 12 years for turning his Selsley home into 'an armoury of illegal weaponry.'

Grandfather David Melles, 52, - a member of the Outlaws Hells Angels chapter - had hidden sawn-off and pump action shotguns, dum dum bullets and a Derringer pistol at his house.

At Gloucester Crown Court on Friday, November 14, Judge Martin Picton described the collection of gangland guns and ammunition as 'a terrifying range of prohibited criminal items.'

The court was told, however, that there was no known link between the weapons and Mr Tobin's death - or any other specific crime.

Details of Melles' case could only be published this week following the convictions of the last of Mr Tobin's six killers at Birmingham Crown Court.

Susan Cavender, prosecuting, told the court that Melles was one of two men arrested on March 1 this year after police were tipped off that there was to be a confrontation between the Outlaws and a rival Hells Angel gang, the Patriots, in Cinderford.

The Outlaws, she said, had been linked to three of the people who were charged with the murder of Mr Tobin, who was shot as he rode his motorbike on the M40 in Oxfordshire on August 12 last year.

Mr Tobin was shot at twice from a car as he rode at 90mph on the M40 on his way home from the Bulldog Bash Festival.

Mrs Cavender said Melles was in a Renault being driven by another man which was stopped at a roadblock at Cinderford on March 1.

Officers found an Outlaws jacket in the car and as a result of that, and other items found, they searched Melles' house at The Retreat, Selsley.

They found five guns, including a 12 bore semi automatic shotgun with sawn off barrels, a Derringer pistol which fired .22 bullets and a shotgun, and 30 rounds of dum-dum bullets and other ammunition. All the guns were capable of being fired.

Melles pleaded guilty to 10 charges of having prohibited firearms and ammunition.

Kannan Siva, defending, said Melles had had no intention of using the weapons or intending to endanger life with them.

At the time he was stopped 'he was not wandering around with firearms in his possession', Mr Siva said.

"This is not a case where the defendant can be said to have played any part in the gangland activity of the organisation described," Mr Siva said.

"This man has not denied any association with the organisation itself but his involvement stopped some time ago. He goes to parties and 'ride-outs.'

"But his involvement is nothing more than transient membership. He is not an active participant and he cannot be said to be involved in any ongoing criminal activity.

"There is nothing linking the weaponry found in this defendant's home to ongoing crime or past crime.

Mr Siva said his client had not modified the weapons.