The garden ornaments are among thousands of bizarre pieces of evidence held by the Lawson Street Property Office, along with a milk urn, a door, a pram, dog food and toothpaste.

The police station has five underground property stores dealing with around 5,000 items at any one time.

In July alone 999 items had to be signed in. Most of the items are clothes that need to be sent for forensic tests, but there are separate stores for firearms and drugs, CCTV evidence, bulky items and small items.

There are also refrigerators to preserve DNA evidence before it is sent away for analysis.

The three property staff – property officer Laura Hesketh and assistants Gary Davies and Justin Taylor – admit that stolen garden gnomes are an endless source of amusement.

Laura said: "It's quite funny to walk into the store and see a row of gnomes on the shelf. Last year there was a spate of gnome thefts in Preston and we had to look after them for a while."

Gary added: "We had about 20 in at one time, and I would say three quarters of them were reunited with their owners after the court case.

"I think the people of Preston are very attached to their gnomes. People spend a lot of money on garden ornaments. "

The most bizarre item lately has been a bubblegum machine.

Most items are kept at the busy depot for at least the duration of a trial, and evidence in major incidents must be kept for the duration of the resulting sentence.

Current items in the store include jetwashers, computers, vodka, vacuum cleaners and a garden chair. Some items have been stolen, while others may have been used in violent incidents or drugs cases.

Most items are returned to the owners but others, such as shoplifted goods where the owner cannot be traced, are auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the police authority.

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