'Largest haul of illegal guns ever seen', found in Newbury home
A man who stockpiled 28 guns in his home, including pistols and shotguns, has been jailed.
Philip Maylen's house in Kingsclere, Newbury was raided in December 2024, after Border Force officers intercepted a package from the US addressed to him, containing gun parts.
The 58-year-old was then arrested by National Crime Agency officers, and his property was searched for two days.
The NCA found 28 viable firearms, 11 replica firearms, 100 bullets and a variety of gun component parts, one of the largest hauls of illegal guns they had ever seen.
Among the viable firearms were 17 shotguns, four deactivated Glock pistols, that Maylen had reactivated, and three blank firing pistols which he had converted to fire live bullets.
Investigators subsequently trawled through Maylen's phone messages, emails, handwritten notes and financial records, and found he'd spent at least £16,000 on guns and components between 2019 and 2024.
These were bought from companies in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Estonia and the UK.
In May 2025, Maylen pleaded guilty to 15 counts of possession of a prohibited firearm and one count of possession of ammunition without a certificate, at Reading Crown Court.
He was sentenced on Wednesday (4 June) and has been jailed for five years and four months.
NCA Senior Operation Manager Tim Lambert said: "Maylen's arsenal had huge potential to cause harm in the wrong hands.
"Maylen also put himself at risk of being targeted by criminals who might have attempted to take the guns from him, had they known about them.
"The NCA and Border Force together have ensured these dangerous guns have been safely removed from the community and that Maylen has faced the consequences of his crimes.'
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