A CACHE of Second World War guns and grenades in a Brighton home is just the tip of an iceberg, according to one of the UK’s leading criminologists.

Sussex Police officers uncovered a secret haul of 70 rifles, handguns and a grenade from the home of a deceased collector in Larkfield Way in Brighton last Tuesday.

University of Brighton’s professor of criminology Peter Squires said secret caches of weapons hidden in homes are more common than people think.

Professor Squires said the case of the anonymous Brighton resident raised questions about how someone could amass a stock of weapons in a country which apparently has some of the toughest gun controls in the world.

The criminology expert said world war weaponry can still have fatal consequences.

He also said the revolver used to shoot Lee Rigby in London last year was a 1912 Belgian infantry officer’s pistol from the First World War.

Mr Squires said: “Guns are owned by collectors, people who are just fascinated by them, and there are those who like to have them for security.

“They feel reassured that they have a weapon they could turn to if they found themselves threatened.

“While most will never come into the public domain, some often find their way into the hands of criminals.”