Teachers aide gets 8 years on guns charge

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MANCHESTER, England, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A teacher's aide at a Catholic school in England was sentenced to eight years in prison Monday for allowing her boyfriend to stash weapons in their home.

Kimberley Bray, 46, of Newall Green was convicted of possession of some of the weapons, the Manchester Evening News reported. Bray said she did not know Paul Taylor, 46, kept a large stash of weapons in their house but witnesses testified police who raided their home found some guns hidden under a duvet, suggesting they had been hastily concealed.

Taylor, who investigators said allowed criminal gangs in the Manchester area to keep their weapons in his house, received a 17-year sentence. One weapon, a 9 mm handgun believed to have been smuggled into Britain from Iraq, has been linked to at least three shootings, police said.

A defense lawyer said Taylor was forced into hiding the weapons because he owed money for illegal drugs.

Bray worked at St. Paul's Catholic High School in Wythenshawe.