A SECURITY guard told a supervisor he would have “no problems” on site that night, showing him a torch adapted also for use as a taser stun gun, a court heard.

The guard, Zafer Khan Sultani, pressed a button at the bottom of the ‘torch’ causing a bright blue electronic flash to be emitted from the metallic tip at the top of the device.

Durham Crown Court was told the startled supervisor recognised it was a stun gun and as he left the site he could hear the taser being discharged intermittently.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, said the supervisor rang a colleague, responsible for appointing security guards, to inform him of the device.

He decided it was serious enough to merit an immediate visit to the site, a building development, in Wingate, at 1.30am on May 20, last year.

Mr Towers said on arrival he could hear the crackling sound of the taser being activated and spoke to Sultani, who handed him the device and demonstrated its use.

The manager, worried for the safety of anyone entering the site, tried to overcome the language barrier to explain to Sultani, an Afghan immigrant, that it was illegal to be in possession of a taser.

He seized the weapon and reported it to police.

Mr Towers said a ballistics expert confirmed it was a working flash light, which also functions as a taser, bearing lettering stating it was a “heavy duty stun gun.”

Sultani said he bought it at a car boot sale a fortnight earlier and claimed he was unaware it was a stun gun.

But Judge Jonathan Carroll said he did not accept that Sultani was oblivious to its potential use as a taser.

Sultani, 51, of Clifton Road, Newcastle, of previous good character, admitted possession of a prohibited weapon.

Jamie Adams, mitigating, said although settled in this country, the defendant only has limited language skills and his attitudes to UK firearms rules was “naïve”.

Judge Jonathan Carroll said he accepted weapons culture differed between Afghanistan and the UK.

As it was never been fired in anger he imposed a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months with 80 hours’ unpaid work