A FORMER soldier’s act of “drunken stupidity” waving an imitation handgun from a car window has landed him behind bars for the first time.

James Mosley leaned from the passenger window of a Fiat Punto, which slowed approaching a couple walking along Cockton Hill Road, Bishop Auckland, at 9.45pm on August 17 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that as the car passed the couple it neared the kerb and Mosley pointed the gun towards the male, saying: “Get a bit of this”.

Chris Baker, prosecuting, told the court: “The defendant wasn’t laughing when he said it and the other man thought he meant he was going to shoot him.

“Thankfully, it only lasted a couple of seconds and the car disappeared.

“The victim was, himself, in the Army for four years and recognised it as a gun.

“He was shaken by the incident.

At the time he thought someone had a grudge against him and the gun might be loaded.

“He was also concerned the car may come back.”

Mr Baker said a police armed response unit was summoned and Mosley was arrested while still in the Punto in the Asda store car park in Spennymoor, almost an hour later.

Shortly beforehand, the car was seen screeching from a nearby car park, flouting a “no entry” sign, although Mr Baker said there was no suggestion Mosley was driving.

The recovered “firearm”

was found to be a novelty lighter, albeit an exact replica 9mm calibre Beretta handgun, which Mosley said he had bought in Turkey four years earlier.

He told police they were “cruising round” and said: “It’s my stupid fault for bringing it out with me.”

Mosley, 19, of Trevithick Close, Darlington, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause a fear of violence.

Graham Sylvester, mitigating, told the court: “He was 18 at the time and had been in the armed forces, so would have known it was an exact replica of a gun.

“He apologises to the other man who would understandably have felt terrified when it was pointed at him.

“It was an act of drunken stupidity. He had been drinking 24 cans of lager over a 12- hour period and this was a very bad joke, committed with no planning or intention to cause a danger to anyone.”

Imposing an eight-month sentence in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Christopher Prince told Mosley: “Having been in the armed forces the other man would have recognised it as a hand gun and was understandably fearful he would be shot.

“Your behaviour led to an armed response unit being summoned.”

The judge, who spoke of his surprise such an implement could be brought into the country, ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the imitation handgun.