THE Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the gun related conviction of the Rev Al Miller.

In upholding the conviction, the court said that a firearm should not be left in a place that will attract criminals.

The court had reserved its ruling on the matter last December, following arguments from attorneys for Miller and the Crown.

Miller, who heads Fellowship Tabernacle in Kingston, had appealed his conviction and fine of $80,000 on a charge of negligence surrounding the loss of his licensed firearm.

He was convicted in October 2011 in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court and slapped with the fine or three months' imprisonment. He paid the fine.

The clergyman was arrested and charged in February 2010 after reporting that his firearm was stolen from his car while he and his daughter stopped to pick plums in Grant’s Pen, St Andrew.

He told police that he had left the firearm in a pouch on the floor of his vehicle and when he returned it was missing.