POLICE last night called on traders to stop selling replica assault rifles after warning that owners could be killed for carrying them.

The Northern Echo was able to buy a pellet gun similar to an AR-M4SF assault rifle for £20 at a market this weekend.

Such weapons are available to anyone aged over 18, or children with their parents, and police last night renewed their warning to people not to buy them.

It follows the court case of Dane Johnson, 18, and Paul Curson, 31, who were arrested by armed police after they were seen with fake firearms in Sleepy Valley, Stanley, County Durham.

They had earlier bought an imitation Galil Assault Rifle and Heckler and Koch MP5 for £15 each at Stanley outdoor market. Both fired plastic pellets.

The men, from Stanley, were each fined £75 with £50 costs by Consett magistrates on Friday, after admitting possession of an imitation firearm in public.

The gun bought by The Northern Echo is a P.1089+A Air Sport Gun with infrared gunsight, which creates a red dot on the target.

It is semi-automatic and can fire six millimetre plastic ball bearings up to 60 metres.

Detective Sergeant Paul D'eath said: "If an adult was walking down the street with a gun like that there is every likelihood he would be challenged by armed officers.

"You cannot tell it is a fake until you are right up close.

"If someone was shot for carrying one of these it would be a tragedy and there would be an outcry. Someone would have lost their life and the officer has got to live with the fact they have killed a person - all because of a £20 toy.

"We would prefer them not to stock them or sell them at all."

The Northern Echo was sold the gun at Stanley outdoor market on Saturday by trader Kev Davis, 29, from Trimdon, County Durham.

A warning on the box says it should not be used by anyone under 18, but Mr Davis said he would sell it to someone younger if they were accompanied by a consenting parent.

Mr Davis said: "Anyone with half a brain would not wave this around in public.

"I have got a licence for everything I sell and trading standards come around every so often, but we never have any bother. If they were banned by law we would take them off and it would be as simple as that.

"But I will continue until they are banned and someone says we are not allowed to sell them."