POLICE found a shotgun stashed away in a wardrobe when they searched a man's Whitworth home, a court heard.

John Francis Noakley, 52, should have kept the gun, which had ammunition, in an authorised secure cabinet.

Burnley magistrates were told how Noakley kept four guns at the property and had a firearm certificate, which he may now lose.

The defendant, of Snipe Farm Barn, admitted failing to comply with a condition of the certificate. Noakley, who has no previous convictions, was fined £265, with £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Bench chairman, Brian Pickup said: “You know the rules as well as I do.

"It is potentially a very lethal weapon. You were negligent if nothing else.”