A COWBOY enthusiast's love of replica guns posed a puzzle for emergency services when they were called to an explosion which tore apart a garden shed.

Country and Western fan Len South's bullet cartridges were blown across his garden by the blast which blew the roof and doors off the shed at his Accrington home.

A fire crew called to deal with reports of the explosion in Broadfield Road, Fern Gore, found debris which had been sent flying into gardens three doors away.

Police called to the scene found empty bullet cartridges had been scattered all over the garden by the blast. Officers searched the shed and took pistol powder and blank cartridges for analysis.

But when shocked householder Mr South returned home to find police searching his debris-strewn garden, he quickly provided a perfectly innocent explanation.

Mr South, 61, uses the shed as a store cupboard for harmless fake ammunition for his hobby of playing cowboys and Indians. The blank bullet cartridges cannot explode or catch fire unless they are filled with pistol powder, which was stored separately in the shed. He had gone out after leaving a cigarette burning inside the shed. He returned to find a his lawnmower, hedge trimmer and wheelchair destroyed by the blaze.

Mr South said: "My wife Jean and I are big on Country and Western. She's in a state of shock about it, because it was me who started it by leaving my cigarette on the side.

"That's a bad habit of mine. The explosion must have been some old spray paint cans. It's blown the walls out of place and sent bits of the roof on top of my house and into people's gardens three doors down.

"I don't know why the police had to take the blanks and pistol powder away, because it's perfectly legal stuff."

Mr South and his wife Jean, who runs Jean's Military Memories shop in Great Harwood, brought traffic in Accrington town centre to a standstill with their Country and Western wedding two years ago. The couple attend C and W clubs in Blackpool, Preston and Fleetwood.

A spokesman for Accrington fire station said: "The crew answered a report of an explosion and arrived to find an outbuilding on fire. They later found a quantity of empty bullet cases. Initially this caused concern as to what they had discovered and what else there might be but it soon became clear the cartridges were nothing to do with the explosion."

Inspector Stephen Lee of Accrington Police said: "The occupier, Len South, had left a lit cigarette which set curtain material alight. The fire heated up aerosol cans in the shed, which exploded, blowing the roof and doors off the shed.

"We searched the premises and recovered items which we believe to be gunpowder and some bullet cartridges."

Insp Lee said checks were being made into the items stored at Mr South's premises. No one was injured in the incident.

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