HONEST residents handed in more than 50 potentially illegal and highly dangerous guns to police officers earlier this month.

Weapons surrendered included antique guns, BB guns, deactivated and imitation fire arms.

Thames Valley Police appealed for residents to hand in unwanted and illegal weapons so they could be destroyed as part of the force's Firearms and Surrender week.

Officers are Loddon Valley Station in Earley were given 44 weapons while 13 were handed in at Reading Station.

Chief inspector Emma Baillie, said: “We would like to thank everyone who handed in any firearms or ammunition as part of this surrender.

“This means that there are fewer firearms and imitation firearms on our streets which could have easily fallen into the hands of criminals.

“As a result our neighbourhoods are much safer, both for our residents and for our officers who work every day and night to protect them.

“We are very pleased that so many people took the opportunity to take part in this initiative and the number of firearms recovered certainly proves how valuable such a surrender is."

During the campaign, people who surrendered weapons did not face prosecution for possessing illegal items.

However, officers have vowed to investigate further if they discover any of the weapons have links to a crime.