A TEENAGER who fired an air pistol because he felt threatened by a group of people outside his flat has been put behind bars.
Jordan Hughes twice fired a carbon dioxide powered weapon downwards at a letterbox, thinking the noise would scare them off. He claimed his home was attacked two days earlier by masked men carrying Samurai swords.
He ended up being arrested and has now been handed an eight-month term of youth custody by a judge at Preston Crown Court.
The air pistol he fired was described in court as having the appearance of a real hand gun.
Judge Pamela Badley told the 19-year-old: “The proliferation of objects which look like real guns is a real problem in our society.
“People taking matters into their own hands is also a real problem in society.”
Hughes had admitted a charge of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence outside his home on Chapel Street, central Blackpool.
In his basis of plea, the teenager said a group of eight to 10 men and women turned up at his flat on the afternoon of December 21 last year. One of them was a man who had been in trouble before.
Roger Brown, prosecuting, said someone in the block of flats at the time heard people kicking at the communal door.
Hughes went to the front door and told someone to go away.
The court heard people outside were becoming aggressive and to get them to leave, the defendant discharged an air pistol. Hughes maintained there were no pellets inside.
Paul Humphries, defending, said: “It caused a loud rushing of air. It was never pointed at anyone and never taken into the street.
“He wasn’t the one looking for trouble. He had not gone out seeking anyone.
“He had the air pistol because he feared a further attack with Samurai swords”.
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