A DAD who turned his son into police after finding bullets in his bedroom says he has no regrets despite the teenager facing five years in jail.

Paul Metcalfe, 19, was arrested by armed officers when his father Neil called 999 and told operators he had found 11 bullets in a cupboard.

But police then raided the room and pulled out a modified 8mm Vendetta starting pistol that had been hidden under a sofa bed.

Now Paul - who has refused to blame his dad - is set to be handed a long jail term when he is sentenced later this month after admitting possessing a firearm without a certificate.

Meanwhile Neil, 43, of Hibson Street, Nelson, has been praised by police, who said his actions avoided a potentially "horrific" situation.

He said: "When I found the bullets I thought immediately of calling the police - you don't want them on the streets, do you?

"Paul was arrested and then police searched the bedroom and found the gun too."

Paul, who is a full-time carer for his mum, Ann, 44, was charged and pleaded guilty, although he has always maintained the gun was not his and he was holding it for a friend.

Network engineer Neil added: "I just thought what Paul had done was wrong, although I had no idea he was looking at five years and I didn't know the gun was in there, either.

"But I would do the same again because somebody could have been shot.

"The way I look at it, if I had not rung the police, Paul would have given the gun back and somebody could have shot someone."

But despite claiming he has no regrets about shopping Paul to police, Neil is unhappy at the prison term his son can expect to be handed.

"He could get five years and it is his first offence," he added.

"Yet somebody who kicks the living daylights out of somebody gets less."

Meanwhile, Paul - who blames being caught with the gun on a wayward gang of friends - admitted being furious with his dad at first.

But he added: "He got me away from it because I got in with the wrong crowd.

"I would have done the same if I had been in his position."

Detective Inspector Sion Hall, from Pennine police, said: "It is very difficult for a parent to do what Neil did but, as he said, if he hadn't the consequences could have been horrific.

"I would praise what has been done but also say that we realise how difficult it is to do and there are ways of passing on information to police where it can be handled sensitively and in confidence."

Paul is due to reappear at Burnley Crown Court to be sentenced on June 19.