POLICE are "delighted" with the number of guns handed in during a month-long weapons amnesty.

Officers are still calculating the exact number, but figures half-way through the amnesty showed that 196 firearms and 2,774 rounds of ammunition had been surrendered at police stations in Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire.

Supt Eamonn Croft, of West Mercia police, said he was delighted with the response to the weapons amnesty.

"Whether it's one weapon that has been used in a crime or one that's been forgotten and stored innocently, it is still one weapon less that could potentially be used in the future," he said.

During the amnesty, which ended last night, the public had the opportunity to hand over any legal or illegal weapons and ammunition without fear of prosecution.

Police say that, although gun crime is not a major problem within the West Mercia region, any opportunity to take guns out of circulation is welcomed.

Last year, there were 54 offences involving a firearm in West Mercia, compared to 590 in six months in the West Midlands.