"Walking stick gun" among deadly arsenal handed in during firearms surrender

Police across West Mercia Police and Warwickshire have collected 436 weapons during the two-week weapons surrender which has been described as a 'fantastic result' by a senior officer. The guns, which cannot now fall into the hands of criminal, went on display at police HQ in Hindlip today. The public have been handing in the weapons since Monday, November 3 with a result that surpassed expectations.

Unusual weapons now in police hands included a walking stick which looked like it belonged in a James Bond film rather than a police armoury and a claymore mine which is an explosive device. Antique guns included a Lee-Enfield 303 bolt-action rifle, a Brown Bess musket dating back to 1722, a 1791 Wilson likely dating back to the Napoleonic wards and a World War Two officer's service revolver from 1939.

Handed in across the force area were 116 hand guns including revolvers and self-loading pistols, six imitation firearms, three blank firers, 158 shotguns, 30 rifles, 83 air weapons. There were also 110 separate surrenders of ammunition ranging from one to 650 rounds. Officers also took custody of pepper spray, a crossbow and four humane killers. Of the weapons handed in 46 were handed in at Worcester and 57 at Hereford.

A total of 299 people took the opportunity to surrender firearms, handing in a total of 436 weapons across West Mercia and Warwickshire. Of the firearms surrendered, 328 were handed in to stations in West Mercia. All of these weapons have now been made safe and most of them will be taken away to be cut up and melted down. Exceptionally rare weapons or those with high historical value may be donated to a museum. The guns will also be checked to see if they have any connections to crime. Each bullet has in effect its own fingerprint which can be analysed by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service if links to any crimes are suspected.

Superintendent Charles Hill said even everyday items like walking sticks could be converted into weapons so they were unobtrusive. He said: "It could be clearly used as a walking stick and turned to an alternative use, causing somebody and awful lot of distress if not killing them."

He stressed there had been co-operation from the firearms community - the 46,000 certificate-holders in the area who hold between them 118,000 firearms.

He said: "Anything which takes a single gun off the street is positive for our communities. This will have saved a life or certainly prevented serious injury. These guns can't get into the wrong hands now. These would kill people. All guns have the capacity of killing someone and we have prevented them getting into the criminal community. This is about protecting communities from harm by taking guns away from the streets and not allowing them to fall into the hands of criminals."

Supt Hill said even imitation firearms could be used to commit crime and there was no way for a firearms officer or a member of the public to tell the difference in that situation.

The response from the public had surpassed expectations he said but he stressed there would be more surrender campaigns in future.

Supt Hill added: “We have been overwhelmed by the public response to this campaign and we’d like to thank every person who has taken this opportunity to surrender a firearm for us to dispose of safely. It is great to see that there are so many people as committed as we are to making our region even safer and protecting people from harm."

More weapons can still be handed in even though the campaign is over. For information call West Mercia Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.