POLICE officers had Marlborough bookshop brothers Peter and Graham Kent over a barrel when they found a Second World War machine gun at their home in Upavon.

The Kent brothers, who live at College Farm House, in Upavon, and run the Military Bookshop in The Parade in Marlborough, knew the gun, which they had brought as a prop to use at military fairs, had been deactivated.

However, Kennet Magistrates in Devizes were told by Roger Jones, prosecuting, a spares kit which the brothers used as a doorstop, contained a replacement barrel which would have allowed the weapon to fire live ammunition.

Peter Kent, 45, and Graham Kent, 42, were fined £200 each when they admitted possessing a weapon which is prohibited under Section 5 of the Firearms Act. It would require permission from Home Secretary Jack Straw to possess it.

Graham Kent also admitted failing to keep one of his two shotguns in a secure cabinet in breach of the terms of his shotgun certificate and was fined a further £100.

The brothers' solicitor, Adrian Northall, told the court Graham Kent had already surrendered his shotgun certificate to the police.

Roger Jones, prosecuting, said police went to the Kent brothers' home with a search warrant after receiving information but were invited into the house by Peter Kent.

He said: "Throughout this matter both of the defendants have been extremely co-operative with the police."

In the house, as part of a military display, the officers discovered the Bren gun together with four spare magazines with an assortment of ammunition.

The barrel of the gun had been modified so that it could not be used other than for blank ammunition.

However, Mr Jones told the court, in the house the police also recovered a spares kit for the Bren gun.

"The spares kit included a barrel which would have enabled the gun to have been simply turned into a weapon capable of firing other than blank ammunition," he said.

"It was capable of being converted to fire live ammunition."

The gun was examined by Wiltshire Police armourer, Ken Hedges, who found it was capable of being converted to live ammunition by using the spare barrel.

The brothers told the police they owned the gun jointly and had used it at book fairs as a prop on their stand.

Mr Northall told the court that the brothers used to collect militaria as well as books and had acquired the Bren gun 18 years ago together with a spares kit which neither of them examined.

Sentencing the pair over the Bren gun offence, court chairman Peter Spinney told them: "This was a very careless thing to do, not being aware of the potential of it being a lethal weapon.

"You should have checked the spares kit to find out there was in fact a barrel which could fire live ammunition."

The brothers were ordered to share prosecution costs of £118.