By Court Reporter

THE current chairman of UKIP’s Stroud branch – and former SAS weapons instructor - has lost an appeal against police refusal of a firearms licence.

Stuart Francis-Love, 61, from King’s Stanley, who had been in the RAF before joining the Special Air Service, was originally refused a firearms licence because of his past convictions.

These included causing grievous bodily harm and for possession of ammunition and an AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifle without a certificate.

Mr Francis-Love, who has been chair of UKIP Stroud since October last year, took a break from EU referendum campaigning on Monday to appear before Gloucester Crown Court.

However His Honour Judge Jamie Tabor QC rejected the ex-SAS serviceman's appeal against the police decision.

At the appeal decision hearing yesterday the judge said that he did not regard Mr Francis-Love "in any way as a liar" when he answered questions incorrectly on applications for a firearms licence and to join a gun club.

"He was going through a difficult time in his life at the time and this demonstrated a remarkable and very serious lack of judgement on his part," said Judge Tabor.

"But the police were quite correct to refuse his application and therefore I do not uphold this appeal."

The judge ordered the appellant to pay £750 in costs but told Mr Francis-Love that he should appeal again in two or three years’ time so long as he stayed out of trouble until then.

The court heard that Mr Francis-Love had a previous conviction for an ammunition offence and also for assault occasioning grievous bodily harm in 1986.

"I was in London and I encountered three drug addicts vandalising a vehicle, so I intervened," he explained.

"One of them received injuries and I was convicted at Bow Street Magistrates Court of GBH."

At the appeal hearing earlier this year Kannan Siva, for the police, said the chief constable of Gloucestershire had refused to grant a firearms licence or shotgun certificate to Mr Francis-Love because of his 'history of convictions.'

In 1987 Mr Francis-Love had been convicted of an offence of causing grievous bodily harm to another man - and in 1996 he was convicted of possessing a firearm and ammunition without a certificate, Mr Siva said.

Then in 2001 he got a further conviction for possession of prohibited ammunition.

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The court heard that Metropolitan police had revoked Mr Francis-Love's gun permits in 2000 and the constabulary now viewed him as “a man who cannot be trusted with a firearms certificate”.

As well as his past offences, Mr Francis-Love had misled the Leonard Stanley Rifle and Pistol Club when he joined several years ago, alleged Mr Siva.

"He said in his application to the club that he had never been refused a firearm or shotgun certificate or had one revoked. He also said he knew of no reason why he might be refused a firearms certificate. There was no disclosure of his past convictions.

"We say it was at worst a misleading and at best reckless statement engineered to get access to firearms when there would be obvious resistance from the police had there been full disclosure.

"The issue is: can he be trusted? The senior officer dealing with his application believed he could not be trusted.”

The court heard that Detective Superintendent David Sellwood wrote to Mr Francis-Love on December 17 last year that he had been shown to be someone who was 'not without danger to the public safety or the peace.'

Alexander Hislop, secretary of the Leonard Stanley club, told the court that if the club had known Mr Francis-Love had failed to declare his past convictions when he applied for membership he would probably have been turned down for lying.

"He stated he had never been refused a certificate and that he had never had one revoked," said Mr Hislop.

He said Mr Francis-Love had served as secretary of the club until August last year.

He recalled one occasion when Mr Francis-Love appeared to have having a problem with a gun so he went to help.

"I touched the gun - which I accept I should not have done - and he completely lost his temper. He told me to get away,” he said.

“He was hunched up, giving body language as if he was about to punch me. He was holding the rifle at the time. I felt threatened. I left the range and went out into the ante room. His voice was very loud.

"Later I tried to apologise but he wouldn't accept it. A week later I apologised to him and he apologised to me for losing his temper. He said 'I'm sorry, I lost it.'

"A few weeks later I was at the club with two juniors shooting air rifles. I had to run to the toilet. I called to the chairman that I had to go to the toilet. The kids came out of the range behind me.

"The next day Mr Francis-Love heard a garbled version of what had happened. Because he was secretary he exploded - he threatened to kill me.

“People outside the range could hear him. His body language was again as if he was going to do something there and then.

"His threat was that if the kids had been injured and he was being sued he would kill me. He said he wasn't going to lose his house because of me.

“In fact the club was insured and there would have been no personal liability at all. His fists were clenched and I felt threatened. I told the chairman he had threatened me twice and if he did it again I would take further action.

"I was basically a bit frightened and it's a very dangerous thing for someone handling guns to be frightened.”

Mr Francis-Love was secretary for 18 months but the club then terminated his membership, he said.

He acknowledged that Mr Francis-Love had 'done a lot of good work' for the club including sending out newsletters, organising a good barbecue and working on the range."

Det Supt Sellwood told the court Mr Francis-Love's 2001 conviction related to him being in possession of a Kalashnikov AK47 assault rifle.

Mr Francis-Love told the court that having the gun still in his possession was an 'oversight'.

It had been left with him by a former military colleague and he had intended to hand it in but forgot.

At that time, he said, he was under a lot of pressure. He told the court he did not declare to the gun club that he'd had his licence revoked because he genuinely forgot that had happened and in his own mind thought it had simply run out.

Judge Tabor suggested that to forget such a thing would be 'an appalling lapse of memory.' Mr Francis-Love agreed that was true.

He said when he filled out the club membership application form he was under the impression it would all be checked by the police so to have lied deliberately would have been a reckless act.

He said he had spent the last 15 years since his 2001 conviction staying out of trouble and working to prove he could be trusted with gun permits again.

He related how he has worked in the UAE as a military instructor and in Libya for an explosives disposal firm. He had also worked with people from the Foreign Office, he said.

He had performed all those jobs without any problems about his past being raised.

"I made my application to the club without any malicious intent. There was no fraud or deception involved at all,” he said.

“I had a firmly held belief that my licence had simply run out and this was a way of getting back into the sport I love. Since 2001 I have trod a very careful line."

Mr Francis-Love called the UKIP's Gloucester Parliamentary candidate Richard Ford as a character witness. Mr Ford told the court he had found Mr Francis-Love to be “exemplary” in all his dealings with him.

Closing, Mr Francis-Love said he did not consider himself to be any kind of threat to the public peace and he had proved by his behaviour over the last 16 years that he could be trusted with gun permits.

Judge Tabor told Mr Francis-Love that he should appeal again in two or three years’ time so long as he stayed out of trouble until then.