SUB-MACHINE guns seized from one of Britain's biggest underworld armourers have been incinerated in a ceremony at The Hague.

Anthony Mitchell was jailed for eight years in March for converting deactivated MAC-10 guns to fire live ammunition after importing them legally from the United States.

Known to the criminal fraternity as BigMacs, they were capable of firing 30 rounds in less than two seconds and were sold in assassination packs to criminals, complete with silencers and bullets.

Mitchell, a 44-year-old former Sussex Police Special Constable, of Baden Road, Brighton, used an industrial unit in the Knoll Business Park in Hove to reactivate weapons secretly.

The handgun usedto kill Jill Dando was also reportedly a reactivated weapon, and officers may speak to Mitchell about the killing.

Twenty-four of the Big Macs were among about 50 guns destroyed in the "Flame of Peace" bonfire ceremony, in the main town square of The Hague.

Mick North, whose daughter Sophie died in the Dunblane massacre, was at the ceremony marking the start of a peace conference.

by/claireB

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.