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| Son jailed after father's tip-off | Son jailed after father's tip-off |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A teenager has been jailed for three years after his father told police he had found bullets in his son's bedroom. | |
| His father discovered 11 bullets in the room and called the police - who also found a handgun under the bed. | His father discovered 11 bullets in the room and called the police - who also found a handgun under the bed. |
| Paul Metcalfe, 19, from Nelson in Lancashire, pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon and the ammunition at Burnley Crown Court. | |
| His father Neil Metcalfe, 43, said he had "no regrets" about his decision to call the police. | His father Neil Metcalfe, 43, said he had "no regrets" about his decision to call the police. |
| Mr Metcalfe said: "I think I did the right thing and I would do the same again. | |
| "I would think for longer knowing what I know now. I only found ammo - I didn't know the weapon was there and I didn't know he was facing five years. | |
| "Of course there's guilt that he will be locked up for so long and I feel sorry for him." | |
| 'Drugs gateway' | |
| He added that he thought the sentence was unfair. | |
| "The judge has said three years - I was hoping for two. | |
| "He hadn't even touched the gun - the police said that before. It was bagged and sealed. | |
| "I don't think it's fair. I don't think he should have walked out of court but 18 months or two years maybe - people get less for GBH." | |
| The minimum sentence for possession of a firearm is five years in prison but the judge had taken into account the fact that his father had informed police as the defence lawyer argued it might otherwise deter other public-spirited parents. | |
| The judge said when he sentenced Metcalfe that "the use of cannabis acted as a gateway from a respectable life to the foul and dangerous world of drugs". | |
| His father conceded that could have been true but added, "It's the way of the world today I'm afraid." | |
| Revenge fear | |
| Mr Metcalfe said were he to do it again he would have accompanied his son down to the station - something the judge might have given him more credit for. | |
| The police said they felt a "balanced decision" had been reached saying there were "exceptional" circumstances in the case and he commended Mr Metcalfe for his actions. | |
| The semi-automatic gun was originally a blank-firing weapon that had been converted to fire live rounds. | |
| Detectives still do not know where the gun came from and said they were "striving to find out as we speak". | |
| Neil Metcalfe backed his son's decision not to tell officers where he had got the gun as he said he would be living in fear of reprisals which would "turn his three-year sentence into a life sentence." |