Black Country car valet locked up over imitation pistol
A terrified neighbour called police after spotting a man with a gun in a Black Country street.
The anonymous caller also gave details of a Ford Focus that was traced to 35-year-old Banaris Ali, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
When police swooped on his bedsit in a multi-occupied address in Fir Street, Kates Hill, Dudley, he was not at home but they found a stun gun disguised as a mobile phone on a sofa next to a bag holding a small amount of cannabis, said Mr Timothy Sapwell, prosecuting.
Then the Ford Focus drove past the property at high speed but was caught by police in heavy traffic.
They discovered a gas operated BB gun that looked like a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in a footwell.
Car valet worker Ali – who failed a drink-drive test after being detained – admitted he had been outside the address with the BB gun to 'move on' strangers who had been sitting outside in a van and gave him 'bad feelings,' the court heard.
Mr Sapwell said: "He confessed that he would have threatened them with the weapon if they had not left but that had not been necessary."
The defendant said he found the stun gun in the street and initially thought it was a mobile phone.
Mr Richard Partridge, defending, said: "This is not a man of violence with a propensity to use weapons. He was just foolish.
"There had been a number of break ins at the flats where he lived and perhaps this was the reason for the paranoia and nervousness that prompted him to behave as he did. He did not have a charger for the Taser."
Ali admitted possession of a disguised weapon and imitation firearm, as well as drink-driving, all on March 9 last year. He was jailed for two years nine months.
Judge James Burbidge QC told him: "Someone was obliged to call the police because they were frightened having seen you in the street with a gun. For reasons that are not entirely clear you were concerned about people keeping an eye on you.
"Whether this was because of some sort of psychosis or because you were having a dispute with someone does not matter. You were not carrying a lethal weapon but it could frighten people and that was your intention."
