Alec Joseph Jensen convicted in Toowoomba Magistrates Court of unlawful possession of weapons, evading police, dangerous operation of a vehicle

After evading police in a stolen car, a Kingsthorpe man ditched the vehicle in Charlton where police discovered a cache of weapons including shortened .22 with homemade silencer attached.

A Kingsthorpe man will spend at least 12 months behind bars after he was convicted of being in possession of two shortened firearms found in a stolen car he had previously evaded police in.

Alec Joseph Jensen, 26, pleaded guilty to a raft of close to 40 charges in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Friday, including unlawful possession of weapons, dangerous operation of a vehicle, evading police and possessing instruments of house breaking.

The court was told that about 4.45pm on August 22 Jensen initially evaded police after checks of the vehicle he was in revealed the registrations plates did not match the vehicle.

Alec Joseph Jensen, 26, pleaded guilty in Toowoomba Magistrates Court to more than 30 charges including unlawful possession of weapons, evading police and dangerous operation of a vehicle.

At 1.15am the following day he again evaded police by reversing backwards out of a one-way street, mounting the gutter as police activated their lights and sirens, police prosecutor Jessica Lynch said.

Hours later at 11.45pm police attended BP Charlton after Jensen was caught on CCTV parking the vehicle and entering the service station.

While he was no longer to be seen, the court was told a search of the vehicle uncovered two firearms in the footwell of the front passenger seat, including a shortened .22 bolt action rifle with a homemade silencer attached and live round in the chamber, as well as a shortened 12 gauge shotgun. A butterfly knife, drugs and housebreaking instruments were also found in the car.

A few days later on August 30 at 10.30am police spotted Jensen in a suspected stolen vehicle driving erratically in Glenvale, overtaking vehicles into oncoming traffic at high speeds.

At 1.45am on September 2 the court was told police patrols on the Warrego Highway spotted Jensen again in the stolen vehicle driving on the wrong side of the highway at speeds of 180km/h.

Alec Joseph Jensen, 26, pleaded guilty in Toowoomba Magistrates Court to more than 30 charges including unlawful possession of weapons, evading police and dangerous operation of a vehicle.

Two trucks heading in the opposite direction had to take evasive action to avoid hitting Jensen, who covered 32km in just 12 minutes.

The court was told Jensen was arrested the following day, and had remained in custody since.

Jensen’s solicitor Amber Acreman said her client had been on parole at the time of the offences after he was handed a three-year jail term in Toowoomba District Court in June 2020 for his involvement as a getaway driver in an armed robbery in 2019.

Ms Acreman said after his release he worked on a St George farm for up to 90 hours a week, but after being told to take time off in July 2021 he relapsed back into drug use.

Characterising the offences as a “spree” over a short period of time, Ms Acreman told the court her client had co-operated with police after his arrest, and that while he admitted to possessing the firearms there were no allegations they had been used in any of the offences.

Magistrate Graham Lee sentenced Jensen to a 36 months behind bars, and noting the firearm offences carried a mandatory minimum jail term of 12 months set a parole eligibility date of September 3, 2022, acknowledging 238 days of pre-sentence custody as time served.

Jensen was also disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for three years.