Former judo international convicted of gun charge

FORMER England international judoka James Waithe has been convicted today of possessing a firearm following the discovery of an arsenal of weapons in his Bristol flat.

Waithe, 47, competed for England in the Commonwealth Games and also represented Barbados at the 1998 Olympics in Korea.

He is thought to have been part of a £50 million drug gang operating in the south west and was earlier found guilty of conspiracy to supply cocaine.

Police described the gang's headquarters as a cocaine factory on an industrial scale with a ten-tonne hydraulic press and the capacity to manufacture millions of pounds worth of drugs.

The judo instructor denied all of the charges after the raid in June last year.  Also discovered in a flat he owned were five handguns, four rifles, stun grenades, a shotgun and ammunition.

After 20 hours of jury deliberations at Bristol Crown Court, they returned a majority guilty verdict on one count of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The jury found him not guilty of conspiracy to possess an explosive substance on Thursday and he was acquitted of five other counts of possession of a firearm today.

Waithe had taught PE and citizenship at Withywood Community School and Bristol Gateway Special School before turning to debt collection for the gang.