A PRACTICAL joker's stunt in which he held up a bus with a pirate-style toy cap gun has backfired, with the prankster being jailed.

Lee Martin Smith was a passenger in a VW Golf which pulled up in front of a bus on South Burns in Chester-le-Street town centre when he brandished the replica of a flintlock-type pistol and pointed it at the bus driver.

Prosecuting at Durham Crown Court, Christopher Baker said the 32-year-old was seen to rummage around in the car's footwell before getting out and aiming the children's toy at around 4.50pm on Saturday, November 19.

He said: “The Crown can say in relation to this case that we don’t know what the motive was. The defendant pointed at the driver with what appeared to be a gun in his hand. The driver could clearly see the barrel of a gun. It was pointed at him for a couple of seconds.

“The driver said in his statement he was frightened he was going to be shot.”

The court heard Smith, of Garside Avenue, Birtley, told police he thought he knew the driver, but it turned out he was mistaken.

Prosecutors traced the man Smith said he had thought it was and he confirmed Smith knew his brother.

Mr Baker said: “He said he had done it as a prank.”

Smith pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Mitigating, Stephen Duffield said: “It was never a case where he intended to put that man in fear.

“There was a lack of desire to put anyone in fear. It was thoughtlessness. It is no conciliation to those who had the weapon pointed at them.”

Judge Simon Hickey, told the 32-year-old the sentence could not be suspended because of his history of violent offending and jailed Smith for ten months.

The court heard he had been convicted of 32 offences.

Judge Hickey said: “The driver was doing his duty, driving people around the county. He was perfectly innocent man.

"He was very frightened. He thought he was going to shot. You are not a man of good character and have a history of violence.”