A woman who carried an imitation machine gun through a housing estate was let off by police after claiming she didn’t know it was a crime.

The woman was caught brandishing the replica SA80 assault rifle in a residential street, near where families were doing their shopping, in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon.

Sussex Police were called by concerned members of the public who saw the woman in Hollingdean Road, Brighton, carrying what they thought was a lethal weapon just before 2pm.

Armed officers rushed to the scene and found the woman near Sainsbury's supermarket, having already taken the BB gun to her nearby home.

The woman told officers she did not realise it was an offence to carry the gun in public and after handing it over to police was let off.

Lethal SA80s are the standard issue machine guns used by the British Armed Forces and can fire up to 770 rounds a minute.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said the woman had not been formally arrested, but had been spoken to by officers. The BB gun will be destroyed.