A GUNMAN who shot at a man’s car during a long-running feud was jailed for fiveand- a-half years yesterday.

Michael Mannion, 32, struck at the home of 37-yearold Ian Johnston in January.

Mannion targeted Mr Johnston’s Peugeot 406 car, which was parked outside his home, in Leven Road, Stockton, in the early hours of January 5.

Mr Johnston was woken by a bang as Mannion fired at the car’s window, said Robin Turton, prosecuting.

Police later found a .22 slug embedded in one of the car doors, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Mr Johnston, who had seen Mannion step out of his black Mitsubishi people carrier with a gun in his hand, phoned the police.

They pursued the 4x4 along snow-covered streets, but Mannion escaped after driving the car over an embankment.

But police were later able to follow his footprints to a house where he was being harboured by friends, said Mr Turton.

Mannion was given a breathtest which he failed, and he accepted going to Mr Johnston’s house, but denied having a gun.

The gun was never found, and later he claimed that it had been taken away by a man who had been a passenger in the car.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said that Mannion was not a danger to the general public and he wanted to settle down with his partner and their nine-month-old child.

Judge Howard Crowson told Mannion: “You were clearly in some continuing feud and you set out to cause him to fear that violence would be used against him. It was carried out with a weapon which was clearly capable of lethal force.”

Mannion, of Greta Road, Stockton, was also disqualified from driving for 12 months after he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possession of a firearm when prohibited, damaging property and driving with excess alcohol.