Father who shopped his son to police after finding him with a gun sees him sent to jail for three years

Paul Metcalfe, who had not been in court before, was sucked into a 'foul and dangerous' sub-culture after starting to use cannabis, a judge said.

After discovering that the 19-year-old had hidden a bag of bullets on top of an airing cupboard, his father Neil wrestled with his conscience before deciding to 'shop' him.

Police searched the property and behind a sofa bed found a starting pistol which had been modified to fire live bullets.

Neil Metcalfe (left) and son Paul (right) arrive at Burnley Crown Court

At first, the jobless teenager felt betrayed but he has since accepted that his father did the right thing.

Illegal possession of a handgun usually carries a five-year minimum sentence, but yesterday a judge said he was recognising Mr Metcalfe's public-spiritness by cutting that to three.

But Paul Metcalfe will still spend at least the next 18 months at a young offenders' institution.

He came from a loving home, but after leaving school at 16 and starting to smoke cannabis he began associating with drug dealers and other criminals in his home town of Nelson, Lancashire.

Burnley Crown Court heard that his sister's boyfriend saw the teenager showing off the bullets last November and informed Mr Metcalfe.

After searching his bedroom, the 45-year-old systems engineer found the bag containing 11 cartridges. 'Sick with worry', Mr Metcalfe decided he had no choice but to tell police.

Paul Metcalfe had been paid £100 to 'mind' the weapon and ammunition. He claimed he had been intimidated into doing so by criminals, but has refused to give their names to police.

He initially felt betrayed by his father and was supported by his mother Ann, 47, who is divorced from Mr Metcalfe, and 23-year-old sister Jacqueline.

Later, however, the teenager said he felt his father had 'saved' him. 'I'd got in with the wrong crowd,' he said. 'Dad has helped me get away from them and start afresh. It's right that parents take this line. If more did, there'd be less trouble.'

The teenager admitting possessing an illegal firearm and ammunition.

His barrister, Hugh Barton, argued in court on Thursday that a lenient sentence would encourage others to inform police about wrong-doing by friends and relatives.

The firearm and ammunition found in the possession of Paul Metcalfe

Yesterday, Judge Christopher Cornwall told the teenager his offence was so serious he had to spend time behind bars.

'Every member of the community has a duty to bring this kind of information to the police,' he said.

'How can you live with your conscience if you do nothing and someone is killed or maimed for life and you didn't act? 'Your father undoubtedly deserves to be commended. But he is not responsible for your reckless conduct.'

And he expressed his concern that a teenager 'from a good home with responsible, loving parents' could get caught up in gun crime.

'It may well be that yet again the regular use of cannabis has acted as a gateway from the respectable life your parents had intended you to live into that of a foul and dangerous world of drugs,' he added.

Metcalfe showed no emotion as he was sentenced and led to the cells, but relatives left the court in tears.

After the case his father said the judge had been too harsh.

'He's got three years when people who do GBH get only two years,' said Mr Metcalfe. 'It does not make sense.

'I think I would have done the same thing again but I would have to think about it a little harder in future. Now in the same situation I would not tell the police directly but I would have gone with my son to hand himself in.