A VICAR who kept a loaded gun should not have been sent to prison, according to a leading clergyman.

That is the view of Archdeacon of Manchester the Venerable Alan Wolstencroft commenting after a four-month jail sentence had been passed on former Tyldesley Curate the Rev Michael Daggett.

Magistrates should have taken into account Mr Daggett's previous good character, claims the archdeacon.

Daggett, 53, vicar of the Church of the Holy Rood at Swinton, was jailed by Salford magistrates after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a handgun -- a derringer pistol -- which he kept in a grandfather clock in his bedroom.

After sentence had been passed on Daggett -- curate at Tyldesley St George's from 1986 to 1990 and formerly of Upper George Street, Tyldesley -- Mr Wolstencroft said: "The sentence is not excessive in terms of the law and the criminal offence.

"But sending Reverend Daggett to prison is excessive in view of his good character and the fact that it will cost thousands of pounds to keep him there."

The American-born cleric moved to Britain from the USA in 1984 and was ordained two years later.

Police found the weapon at his vicarage in Moorside Road, Swinton, after they went there in connection with another matter.

In the USA, he was a member of the National Rifle Association and said he brought the pistol with him from The States. He said it was a family heirloom and he loaded it out of curiosity.

He admitted: "When I found out about the stringency of the gun laws in the UK, I should have got a licence for the weapon and I regret not doing so."

Despite pleas for mercy by parishioners and Church of England colleagues, Daggett's appeal against his sentence was turned down at a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court.

Judge Peter Lakin told the vicar: "It was dangerous and irresponsible for you to have illegally held a loaded gun in your home. It is quite possible the gun and ammunition could have found its way into criminal hands."