A MARRIED couple had an arsenal of dangerous weapons on general sale at a car boot in Warrington.

Xing Yu and Bilian Weng, originally from China but UK residents for a decade, have received a custodial sentence for their actions.

Each appeared before Warrington Magistrates’ Court, assisted by a Mandarin interpreter, recently to face charges of possessing offensive weapons for the purpose of sale.

They were also charged with possessing knives in public, possessing offensive weapons in public and possessing an offensive weapon in a private place.

The court heard how on August 4 this year, 29-year-old Yu and 28-year-old Weng pitched up at Winwick Car Boot Sale, explained prosecutor Kassem Noureddine.

Here, those browsing the stalls were shocked to discover that the husband-and-wife-team had 12 martial arts lock knives available for sale.

Other weapons in the collection included five nunchucks and a selection of batons, which the court heard were bought at the same car boot sale a week prior, with the intention of selling them on for profit.

Authorities carried out a search of their Manchester home and found an additional telescopic baton.

It was said that the pair did not realise that having the weapons in public or selling them was illegal, and that the whole situation was a ‘mistake’.

Having pleaded guilty to all charges, magistrates sentenced each defendant to four months in prison, but this was suspended for the next 12 months.

It was said on their behalf that there had been a positive pre-sentence report prepared by the Probation Service in which they had acted in a naïve manner.

It was accepted that their offending was due to ‘cultural issues’, namely not realising it is an offence to sell weapons in England and Wales, as it is not at car boot sales in China.

However, the fact that they were in possession of weapons and knives in public with the intention of selling them on, albeit naïvely, could only merit a custodial term.

In addition to the suspended jail term, meaning they will not be sent to prison if they stay out of trouble, they were each told they must pay £85 in court costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

The court approved orders to deprive the defendants, both of Goole Street in Openshaw, east Manchester, of the knives, nunchucks and batons.