A LORRY driver who used an air rifle to shoot crows was yesterday ordered to pay £365 in fines and court costs after being convicted of a series of firearms offences.

Wayne James Woodhouse, 41, admitted the illegal possession of a Korean air weapon and ammunition in a public place, as well as not having a required certificate for it - or for a silencer he was found with.

Janet Mason, prosecuting, told Consett magistrates that gamekeeper David Dickinson of the Ruffside estate at Edmondbyers, County Durham, came across Mr Woodhouse at a place called Skinny Burn.

Woodhouse was aiming the rifle but Mr Dickinson could not see whether he had just shot, or was about to use the weapon.

When Mr Dickinson told Woodhouse he could not shoot there, he drove off at speed in a Range Rover. Police searched Woodhouse's home in Dere Road, Delves Lane, Consett, four weeks later. They found a Shinsung Career II air rifle, ammunition for the gun and a silencer.

Police firearms experts examined the gun and confirmed it required a firearms certificate under the Dangerous Air Weapons Rule of 1969. The act applies to air guns with a high-muzzle energy.

Steve Kettlewell, mitigating, said Woodhouse had not realised he required a licence for the gun and had not been told it was required when he bought it. Woodhouse had been shooting crows, he added.

Magistrates ordered the confiscation of the firearm, ammunition and silencer.