Give up the gun appeal to take weapons off the streets

People across the north west of England have been urged to "look to their consciences" and hand in firearms under a weapons amnesty.

The "Give up the Gun" appeal will allow residents to turn in firearms and ammunition with no questions asked and no threat of prosecutions over the next two weeks.

Police forces in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria launched the amnesty from 7am today until midnight on Monday April 18.

It comes after a spate of shootings in the Salford over the past year.

They included the murder of so-called "Mr Big" Paul Massey outside his home last July in a suspected gang war between rival crime groups.

Cheshire police superintendent Bev Raistrick told the Chester Chronicle that many of the weapons they had received in past appeals were wartime relics inherited from relatives.

Greater Manchester Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd urged anyone holding an illegal gun to "look to their consciences" and hand it in.