STUNNED Terry Timms has been forced to put his naughty gnomes under house arrest after police threatened to charge him with indecency offences.

The coach driver spotted the cheeky figures while taking tourists through Belgium and brought them home last month.

He arranged four figures on the roof of the porch above his front door of his home in South Bank, Teesside, causing sniggers from passers-by.

Two of the gnomes are flashing, another is answering a call of nature into a bucket, and the fourth is baring his backside.

But, after a third visit from the police asking him to remove the offending ornaments, he was given a 4pm deadline to spare his neighbours' blushes, or face arrest for indecency offences.

Terry, 53, said: "I saw them in Belgium and thought they were really funny, a bit cheeky, but not obscene.

"I put them on my porch roof and everyone going past had a really good laugh at them.

"When my neighbour told me the police had arrived while I was out I thought he was winding me up. But they rang me at work and told me I had to come home immediately and lock them in the house.

"So my gnomes are now under house arrest in the kitchen and I can't put them outside.

"I cannot believe the police became involved in some- thing like this, it seems crazy."

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "There had been a number of complaints. One neighbour said it was outrageous.

"A police officer spoke to the occupier who said he would remove the gnomes.

"He was advised that if he didnot do so he could be prosecuted for indecency offences.