A MAN who kept a stun gun in his home has been jailed for 20 months.

Leon Bentley said he was given the non-lethal weapon by another man and kept it for his own protection.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the 44-year-old produced the stun gun – disguised as a torch – at a party and waved it around “showing off” with it.

Bentley’s wife handed the weapon into police after they went to his North Yorkshire home to quiz him about an unrelated matter. At a previous hearing she was said to be still supportive of her husband.

The defendant, of Church Row, Melsonby, near Richmond, admitted possessing a disguised firearm on or around July 26 last year.

Bentley, who was said to have a good work record, said “thank you” to Judge Peter Armstrong as he was jailed for 20 months. He could have faced a sentence of up to five years for the offence.

Judge Armstrong said he had been foolish, but he accepted the stun gun had never left his house.

He said: “It is a weapon capable of serious harm and while it may not be a lethal weapon it could be used by criminals to enforce their criminal activities.”