A MAN who waved an unloaded imitation gun in the street was jailed for nine months yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Jamie Cook, 22, was attacked by yobs after he moved into a flat.

He had bought the gun, which fired ballbearings, from an Army supply store, intending to frighten them.

But Heather Ward, 29, saw him threatening the youths with the gun and rang the police, said David Crook, prosecuting.

When the police arrived, Cook threw the gun into bushes. He was bleeding from his head where the gang had hit him with a piece of wood, Mr Crook told the court.

A psychiatrist reported that Cook was suffering from paranoia over being tormented, said Martin Towers, defending.

Cook, of Kimblesworth Walk, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence on August 17 last year.

Judge John Walford said that he had to go to prison because the courts had to discourage the use of firearms, either real or imitation, to mark society's horror at what would happen if guns were treated differently.

The judge told him the law referred to "any gun, and this looks horribly real".