A pensioner pulled an imitation gun on his neighbour in a bizarre incident at a sheltered housing complex. Anthony Law, 73, knocked on his neighbour's door while holding a realistic-looking black 'handgun'.
"F****** put the lights on," Law said after the neighbour opened up, before pointing the 'gun' at him. After a brief struggle, he shut the door and Law walked off.
Manchester Crown Court heard Law had been 'very distressed' that the electricity had not been working in his flat, and mistakenly believed that his neighbour who lived in the floor below was an electrician. The pair were neighbours in sheltered accommodation on Oswald Close in Salford, but had never met before.
It was at about 9am on February 11 when he began to hear Law knocking on the door. When he opened up he saw Law holding an item in his hand.
"He couldn't see the item clearly but he believed it was some form of gun due to the way in which the defendant was holding it," prosecutor Duncan Wilcock said. Law brandished it for a few seconds before he was able to shut the door.
The neighbour was left feeling 'uneasy' and believed he was in danger. Police arrived quickly at the scene and seized the gun, which was said to look like a handgun and had six gold bullets in the chamber.
"The item was found to fire working ammunition, but not at an energy level that would make it a formal firearm, as opposed to an imitation firearm," Mr Wilcock said. The court heard that Law, who has no previous convictions, had acquired the gun abroad 'years ago'.
Law, of Oswald Close, Salford, pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Defending, Patrick Buckley said the defendant had experienced a 'marked decline in his cognitive function' prior to the incident.
Sentencing, Judge Hilary Manley told Law: "You knew that the object that you brandished briefly at your neighbour downstairs was not a real firearm. He didn't know that. It frightened him, it made him believe he was in danger."
The judge said she'd seen pictures of the gun and remarked that it 'looks quite real'.
"The courts look very seriously on people who behave in this way, for reasons which I am sure are obvious. You are 73-years-old, you have never been in trouble before with the police. You have worked hard all your life.
"You have got various difficulties now, in particular difficulties in relation to your alcohol intake and some other problems. It is clear in the months prior to this incident you had suffered more and more difficulties and your situation had deteriorated to quite an extent.
"You were very distressed about the electricity not being on in your flat in the days leading up to this incident." She said it was a 'highly unusual case' and felt able to sentence Law to a 12 month community order, to include 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
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