A mother-of-five who kept an AK47 assault rifle and ammunition in a gym bag in her unlocked bedroom was jailed for six years today.

Katrina Jordon also had nine pistol bullets stored in the same bag together with 27 rounds for the machine gun, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Police raided her home in Woodberry Grove, Hackney, on January 14 this year, and she eventually told them where the bag was.

The 32-year-old claimed she had been pressured into holding the bag for five gang members who had threatened her and her children.

Jordon - who has no previous convictions - later pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm at a preliminary hearing, saying she had the gun for about three weeks. She also pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of ammunition.

Judge Caroline Atkinson remarked Jordan had effectively been in charge of a 'fully functioning killing machine'.

Killing Machine: Katrina Jordon stashed an assault rifle like this one in her unlocked bedroom

She said: "The firearm was not loaded but the ammunition fitted the firearm and could have been readily assembled and it was not locked away.

"You indicated to police where the bag was and you knew it was a firearm, although you did not know what sort of firearm it was.

"In interview you were initially reluctant but indicated five young black men had visited your home and they had threatened you so you would hold the weapon for them."

Judge Atkinson made a ruling that despite the threats, there were no 'exceptional circumstances' in the case that could have reduced Jordan's sentence.

Snaresbrook Crown Court
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She said: "Those who provide a safe hiding place for weapons like these make a significant and distinctive contribution to the use of firearms on the streets and elsewhere.

"They do so at their peril - where is the sympathy to the mother of the child or husband killed by the used of these lethal weapons? That is why these sentences are so high.

"It was fully automatic, this with one touch of the trigger this gun was designed to successively discharge the 27 bullets in its cartridge.

"This was not locked away, it was within reach, you were caught red handed."