A woman has been jailed after police found a loaded four-inch revolver in her vagina during a routine search.

In April 2014, Dallas Archer, 21, was stopped by police for speeding in her home city of Kingsport, Tennessee and was found to be driving without a licence.

She was taken to Kingsport City Jail and a routine search being carried out “located an unknown item in her crotch,” The Smoking Gun reported.

Archer, then 19, was taken by a female jailer and a police officer to the bathroom where it was discovered that the “unknown item” was a loaded handgun concealed in her vagina.

It was found to be a .22 calibre North American Arms mini-revolver.

The handgun had been stolen in 2013 from a vehicle owned by John Souther, of Kingsport.

Archer was charged with bringing contraband into a penal facility. In a plea agreement, she agreed to spend three years in jail for the offense on Thursday.

Archer’s lawyer Daniel Cantwell told Sky News that he had no clue why she had taken the term Sex Pistols so literally.

“I have never got an answer for that. I don’t know. I think it’s just because she was high,” he said.

An official at Sullivan County Court told Sky News on Thursday that Archer also pleaded guilty to marijuana possession, driving without a licence or proof of insurance, vandalism and failure to appear.

She was also sentenced to three years of community service and two years of probation and fined $1,000, court records show.

When Souther was spoken to by The Smoking Gun and told his revolver had been found in a woman’s vagina, he replied “oh gosh” before adding that the “little guy … will need a bath in bleach.”

The .22 calibre North American Arms mini-revolver is the most popular of its kind. It is two inches and one inch wide, weighing 142 grams when unloaded.