Man who had gun at party avoids prison (From Gazette)

Man who had gun at party avoids prison

7:00am Friday 16th October 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)

A TEENAGE girl dialled 999 after a man brandished an air pistol at a party, a Court heard.

Chelmsford Crown Court was told Mathew Dillon had been showing off with the black Colt air pistol which he found at the house in Elizabeth Close, Colchester.

However, a 15-year-old partygoer dialled 999, telling the operator the man with the gun had not pointed it at anyone.

As a result, armed police went to Dillon’s home, in Regents Close, Colchester, where he was spotted climbing over a neighbour’s wall.

He was challenged by officers and he put his hands up, dropped the gun to the ground and said: “It’s not real.”

Dillon, 22, pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm in a public place on September 20, 2008, and was given a 28-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and with supervision for 18 months.

The court heard there was no cartridge in the black Colt Government 911 air pistol. The judge ordered it to be forfeited and destroyed.

Judge George Bathurst-Norman told Dillon that what was said in the 999 call had stopped him from going to prison immediately.

But he warned him : “People who fool around in this day and age with an imitation weapon, waving it around, perhaps threatening people, deserve and do go to prison because of the fear it causes to others.

“But that phone call suggests you weren’t pointing it at anybody. You had just found it and were waving it around.”

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(2)