An 81-year-old has questioned his conviction for owning a 135-year-old gun which when fired could not break a jam jar.

John Bertram Barnes was given a suspended prison sentence on Monday for posession of a firearm.

He said he had been arrested in June when a "small army" of gun wielding police swooped on his house in Sunningdale Road following a tip off from a family member during a row.

Police used sniffer dogs to track down the antique gun, which had belonged to Mr Barnes's war veteran grandfather, who gave him it as a souvenir from the first world war.

Following his sentence on Monday, Mr Barnes said he should never have faced charges of gun possession - but was the victim of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) wanting another gun crime conviction.

He had only used the pistol because he had been curious about whether it worked.

He bought ammunition for the gun and tested it out in his back garden by firing it at jam jars, that did not even break on impact from the bullets.

He also criticised police for the heavy-handed approach of treating him as a regular gun suspect after entering his home.

He said: "I have been stitched up by the state. The Crown Prosecution Service are only interested in statistics and not, it would appear, justice."

"I have lost a year of my life because of this. My reputation as an honest citizen has gone which means I will never be able to stand as an MP or a councillor, or any position in public office for that matter."

At his sentencing at Croydon Crown Court today (April 22), Judge Stephen Waller told Mr Barnes he should not have allowed curiosity to get the better of him by buying ammunition for the gun and testing it out.

Judge Waller said: "The gun did work, but not very well. Although parliament protocol allows a minimum mandatory five year prison sentence, the court is of the opinion these are exceptional circumstances.

This is a long way from what parliament envisaged when the gun laws were established. Never the less this is still a serious offence, you are an intelligent man, and should not have bought ammunition."

Mr Barnes pleaded guilty on March 25 to possession of a firearm, a 9mm flobert calibre rim fire double barrelled smooth bore side by side Belgian tuck away shot pistol.

He was ordered to pay £550 in costs, as well as being told the gun would have to be destroyed.

Barnes had a six month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

Justifying the conviction, Andrew Baxter, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said: "Mr Barnes was in possession of the gun, had sourced ammunition from abroad and had loaded and fired it."