Men found with stash of weapons after travelling to Sheffield to buy illegally converted firearms

Joseph Steele and Shera Virk had travelled from Warwickshire to Sheffield on March 30, 2023 to buy the firearms.

Having obtained them, the pair were stopped in a stolen vehicle by police in Nottinghamshire and found with three firearms which had been converted from firing blanks to viable weapons.

Steele, aged 34, of Brewery Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Shera Virk, 24, of Golf Lane, Leamington Spa, have now both been convicted of three counts of possession of a firearm and one charge of possession of ammunition.

They were convicted on Friday, November 22, of all charges, following a three-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court. Both men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.

Four Sheffield men also convicted

South Yorkshire Police said four men had previously been convicted and are also awaiting sentencing as part of the force’s investigation into the illegal conversion of blank-firing weapons and ammunition into viable firearms and ammunition.

Zakaria West, 29, of Tythe Barn Way, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiring to manufacture, sell or transfer ammunition.

Arron Ward, 30, of Smelter Wood Crescent, Sheffield, was found guilty of the same offences following a trial in October 2024. At the same trial, Danny Milner, of Gresley Walk, Sheffield, was also found guilty of conspiring to sell or transfer prohibited weapons.

Andrew Loton, 35, of Bramshill Close, Sheffield, also pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell or transfer prohibited weapons and conspiring to manufacture, sell or transfer ammunition at an earlier hearing.