A man who ran a firearms factory from a lock-up garage in a quiet street in South Norwood has been jailed for seven years.

The extent of Shaun Halcomb's work was only discovered when armed police raided the garage at the back of Dixon Road after a month-long surveillance operation.

They had been tipped off by residents who had become suspicious after hearing drilling and the noise of machinery operating through the night.

Police removed seven loaded semi-automatic handguns and a large quantity of live ammunition from the garage.

Halcomb, 35, of Dixon Road, was jailed for seven years at Croydon Crown Court last Tuesday for firearms offences.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing in July to the unlawful possession of the handguns and ammunition.

Halcomb was arrested on May 18 after armed police stormed the lock-up garage and found the weapons which were ready for use on the streets.

They seized seven handguns, blank ammunition awaiting conversion and live ammunition.

Officers also found equipment believed to have been used to convert the firearms into deadly weapons.

Detective Inspector Annie Scott, of the Met's central task force, said the conviction was a warning to others She said: "These weapons had been converted to fire live ammunition and may well have been deadly had they reached the hands of gunmen.

"It is difficult to estimate the effect these guns would have had on the communities in London, however, I believe they would have caused fear and potentially injuries or deaths."