A Walsall woman has appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court today (7 May) charged with unlawful possession of explosives and ammunition.
Joanne Morris, a former nurse from Ivy Cottage in Station Street, Bloxwich was arrested following a firearms warrant at her home on 14 November last year, which led to nearby residents, including parts of Bloxwich Police Station, being evacuated after a large amount of military style ammunition and explosives were found.
A cordon remained around the 48-year-old ex-soldier’s home for three days as police carried out an extensive search, during which the Ministry of Defence had to carry out a controlled explosion of some detonators that were too fragile to move safely.
The haul is the largest single recovery of its kind in the West Midlands in the last 10 years.
Morris appeared at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court on 16 November charged with four counts of unlawfully possessing ammunition and one count of possessing a shotgun.
Today Morris pleaded guilty to all five charges and further charges of four counts of unlawful possession of an explosive substance and one count of making an explosive substance after an application to the Attorney General was granted to bring the charges under the Explosives Act.
Morris was remanded for sentencing at the beginning of July.