PENSIONER Anthony Chapman has been jailed for 30 months after police discovered potentially lethal firearms at his home.

Officers found the weapons and ammunition during two searches of Chapman's Westlands home over the past two years.

The stash was part of a collection of antiques acquired by the 66-year-old former police officer and arms dealer over many years.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard yesterday that some of the items were prohibited, or needed a firearms licence.

Among the items found were:

A barrel receiver from a bolt action gun, discovered in his garage;

Fifty cartridges displayed in a cabinet in his hallway capable of being fired by a gun in the same cabinet;

Almost 30 bullet cartridges suitable for use in the receiver found in the garage;

An air rifle with "lethal potential" found in a wardrobe in the master bedroom.

Another air rifle found under a bed, which tests showed was capable of discharging pellets capable of causing a serious eye injury;

The court heard police had first raided Chapman's Melrose Avenue home on November 13, 2009 before releasing him on bail. A second raid on April 13 this year recovered a cleaning kit and six bullets from Chapman's garage.

David Jackson, prosecuting, said: "During his first interview, the defendant told police he had been registered as a firearms dealer, but not since 1984.

"He had been arrested and sent to prison and, on his release, many of the items at his property were returned to him by the authorities.

"He said the cartridges had come with a gun from his father and were of sentimental value.

"He said he did not believe one of the air rifles was illegal and that his wife had put it in the wardrobe."

Chapman had pleaded guilty to possessing prohibited ammunition and possessing ammunition without a firearms licence at an earlier hearing.

The court was told one of the counts came with a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

But Eugene Hickey, defending, said Chapman's case was exceptional.

He said: "This is far removed from the usual cases of possession of firearms or ammunition that usually comes before a criminal court.

"This defendant is not involved in active crime, it is not suggested he is part of any gang culture, that he is holding firearms for others or adapting firearms for others.

"This is a man who has always had an interest in historic firearms and was, many years ago, holder of a licence.

"He should have been knowledgeable on the Firearms Act but the law changed after he ceased being a dealer and he didn't keep up-to-date."

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones sentenced Chapman to two-and-a-half-years in prison for possessing a prohibited firearm.

He imposed a two-year sentence for two of the other counts, 18-months in prison for two others and another 18-month sentence for the most recent incident.

The sentences will run concurrently.

The seized items will be destroyed.