Metal detectors should be installed at a crime-plagued Black Country pub, near to where a three-year-old boy found a loaded gun, according to police.

Officers have called for stringent security measures to be brought in at the London Apprentice in Windmill Lane, Smethwick.

The police have made a number of recommendations including installing CCTV, bringing in security staff and installing door mounted metal detectors to check for weapons on people entering after 11pm.

In March, a loaded gun was found by a toddler in a garden in Oakfield Close. He handed it to his 11-year-old brother, who fired a bullet through the windscreen of a parked car.

Police now believe the weapon had been dumped by a man they were chasing from the London Apprentice the previous night.

The pub’s licence will be reviewed by Sandwell Council’s Licensing Panel next Thursday.

In a report, police outlined a string of incidents including theft, assault and drug dealing, as well as reports of a mass brawl.

Licensing officer David Knight from West Bromwich Police Station says in his report:”The issue is that the London Apprentice has a problem with people in the vicinity dealing cannabis.”

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