Guns handed in at Bexhill police station

They were being handed in even before the nationwide firearms amnesty was launched on Monday.

By midday on Wednesday more than a dozen guns and nearly 70 rounds of ammunition had been handed in locally.

The first day yielded a Webley air pistol. But already locked away in a steel cabinet at Bexhill police station awaiting collection was an arsenal of weapons.

It included a .410 shotgun, two revolvers, a tiny pocket semi-automatic pistol and a large sword.

Inspector Max Mosley said: "The important thing for people to realise is that this is genuinely a no-questions-asked system

"Anyone bringing a weapon or ammunition into the police station can do so totally anonymously.

"They will never hear any more from us again about the matte unless they choose to ask for us to do so.

"It has been a fantastic response so far."