POLICE who searched a house on the North Wales/Cheshire border found more than 10,000 live rounds of ammunition in a garden shed.

A court heard Terrence Stephen James Davies, 55, had been the secretary of two gun clubs and was therefore entitled to have them.

But storing them in a wooden shed did not provide the security required under his firearms certificate, the prosecution said.

Davies, of Sandy Lane, Saltney, admitted a breach of the firearms certificate by failing to store them in a secure place.

Magistrates in Flintshire heard Davies had now stopped shooting. He had given up as secretary of the two gun clubs and all his firearms and ammunition were now held by an authorised dealer.

Magistrates said, in the circumstances, they would give him a two-year conditional discharge, and ordered him to pay £60 costs.

But they ruled that all the items seized by the police should be forfeited and destroyed.

Rhian Jackson, prosecuting, said that on June 20 police officers had searched two sheds in the rear garden and in a smaller one, the furthest from the house, they found the ammunition.

The shed door had a padlock on it, there was a security light at the back of the house and there was a large but frail dog on the premises.

The police took the view the shed provided little security against intruders.

Defending barrister Henry Gow said Davies was a man of impeccable character.

'This incident has had a devastating effect upon this man,' said Mr Gow.

He had been held for two days in custody, had been in the cells overnight and it had been a very traumatic experience.

Mr Gow said Davies had been woken up by police who searched his house with a warrant on unfounded allegations.