Raid on teacher's house leads to gangster's lair

London: By day she was a respected teaching assistant at a Catholic school, where the pupils called her ‘Miss'.

But Kimberley Bray was living a double life as a gangster's moll, storing an arsenal of guns at her home. When police raided the home the 45-year-old shared with former pub landlord Paul Taylor, they found the weapons on "open display" — two of which had been used in gangland shootings — and a cannabis farm.

On Monday, Bray was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of possessing the guns, including a Tariq self-loading pistol, a 12-bore Benelli shotgun, a Glock 9mm handgun and 550 bullets.

She was cleared of possessing a Skorpion submachine gun and helping to set up the cannabis farm in one of the bedrooms.

Bray listened in the dock as Philip Curran, prosecuting, told how police raided the couple's home in Manchester, in January.

Curran said: "Kimberley Bray is without doubt a hardworking and committed person. But when she gets home it's a very different environment — another life."

Manchester Crown Court heard Bray, a grandmother, worked at the 843-pupil St Paul's Catholic High in Wythenshawe, and used her dedication to her job "as a cloak of respectability".

Criminal connection

Police were able to trace the guns back to five incidents dating back to 2004. The Skorpion had been used when gangsters opened fire through a car sunroof in the city last year and the Tariq was fired and nearly killed a baby boy near Rochdale.

In another incident a man was kneecapped with the weapon after masked raiders stormed his home. Taylor was jailed for 17 years.