THE owner of The Griffin Hotel in March town centre appeared in court on Tuesday, facing two firearms charges. The charges follow an alleged incident at the beginning of April when 20 police officers raided the 16th century hotel and inn and arrested Mart

THE owner of The Griffin Hotel in March town centre appeared in court on Tuesday, facing two firearms charges.

The charges follow an alleged incident at the beginning of April when 20 police officers raided the 16th century hotel and inn and arrested Martin Ellis.

Forensic experts were called in after the raid by members of the Cambs Police tactical firearms unit.

Ellis, 50, is accused of possessing a TX200 British Air Arms air rifle without a firearms certificate in March on April 6, and possessing a Poly-Kor slug cartridge without a certificate on the same date.

The case was adjourned until August 15.

Ellis spoke only briefly to confirm his name and address when he appeared before Fenland magistrates at Wisbech.

He had been bailed to return to March Police Station last Thursday when he was formally charged.

Ellis bought the Griffin Hotel at the beginning of the year from Dee Reeves, who had owned the hotel for nearly 20 years.

He moved to Cambridgeshire from Oxfordshire when he formerly ran a pub and restaurant and also developed properties.

- The TX200 Mark III is the latest version of the underlever spring rifle that came to market in the early 1990s. It replaced a number of earlier air arms sidelever spring guns, such as the Bora, Camargue, Khamsin, and Mistral.