A schoolboy who stored a gun, silencers and ammunition at home has been sentenced to an 18-month detention and training order.
The child - just 13 at the time and one of the youngest convicted in Britain of firearms possession - had agreed to look after them for a fellow gang member.
Police, who raided his Victorian terraced home in New Cross, south-east London, first found a 31-round Russian-made Baikal IZH-79 semi-automatic pistol - regarded by police as gangland's gun of choice - in a basement cupboard.
The weapon, with two silencers, had been wrapped in bags and a pillowcase and stuffed into a rucksack.
Officers, who launched the raid after a tip-off, also recovered 31 rounds of 9mm ammunition from one of his socks nearby.
A few minutes later, a barrel brush for cleaning another type of a gun was discovered in the loft.
As the search continued with the help of a specially trained dog, a machete was recovered from the wardrobe in the youngster's bedroom.
Although tests later showed the gun was "clean" and not connected to any known crime, semi-automatics like this - unknown in this country until three years ago - have been involved in a string of murders.
The youngster, who is now 14 and cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted a string of possession charges.
The Metropolitan Police said he was the youngest child yet to be arrested by its Central Taskforce for having a gun.
