A nightclub DJ caught by the Police with a gun in his bag claims he was set up, and someone planted it there.

Giving evidence in his own defence yesterday, Gregory Outerbridge AKA DJ Sheep told a jury the first time he ever saw the loaded semi-automatic pistol was when he was searched.

"I thought I was in the middle of a plot to set me up at that point," he said of the incident in the early hours of September 12 last year.

Outerbridge, 28, from St. David's, explained the officer who searched him, Sergeant Jason Ming, was an old friend of his family. Nonetheless, he claimed the officer could be part of an effort to frame him.

"I told Jason 'I don't know you any more'. For the simple reason that this guy, who I had known pretty much all my life, had just pulled a gun out of my bag," he said.

"It wasn't there when I left home, and then all out of the blue he pulls me over, searches me for a firearm and pulls out a firearm. That was pretty crazy and I thought at that time that he was part of it."

Outerbridge explained he's the house DJ at Club Ovation in St. George's, and hosted a party there on the night in question. He took a laptop bag to the venue with his music equipment in it.

After taking out his equipment and hooking it up to the house sound system, he left his bag unattended in the club while he spent the night playing music.

He speculated that someone could have put the gun in his bag when he was not looking.

The Police got a tip-off that night that they would find a gun in Outerbridge's bag. They followed him when he left the club at 3.30 a.m. on the back of his friend Tarik White's motorcycle.

Armed Police surrounded the pair when they were pulled over outside the old Police Station in St. George's. At that point, Sgt. Ming searched Outerbridge's bag and pulled out the gun.

The trial heard evidence earlier this week from Police armourer John Kirkpatrick that the Ruger P90 pistol weighed two pounds and seven ounces about the same as a bag of sugar.

Cross examining Outerbridge yesterday, prosecutor Cindy Clarke inquired: "What's so special about you that someone would conspire to put a firearm in your bag? Why you?"

Outerbridge replied: "I don't know."

Ms Clarke suggested he knew there was a firearm in the bag, and it was not possible he could have failed to notice it when he packed his equipment away at the end of the night.

"I disagree," replied Outerbridge.

He also denied hesitating when he first noticed the Police presence as he left the nightclub, and shaking his head and dropping it to his chest during the search.

However, he told Ms Clarke: "I was kind of irritated and aggravated because that's a nightmare and I've been going through a nightmare ever since."

The gun was forensically tested, but no DNA or fingerprints were found.

Ms Clarke told the jury that there was no dispute over the fact that Outerbridge was found with an illegal loaded weapon the only issue for them to decide is whether he knew he was in possession of it.

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson pointed out during his closing speech that there was a visible Police presence all night outside Club Ovation.

He asked the jury to consider why any person knowing he had a gun in his bag would walk out with it, instead of concealing it somewhere in the club.

"Unless someone's retarded or stupid or daft as hell, who's going to walk out of that club with a gun knowing there's a parking lot full of Police officers?" he said.

Instead, Mr. Richardson suggested the Police presence is what caused someone to put the gun in the bag.

"Someone may have gotten spooked and dumped the gun in the most convenient place they could find," he speculated.

Outerbridge denies possessing a gun and ammunition, and possessing a gun in a public place. The jury is due to consider the case today.