A REDUNDANT company accountant, who burst into his old office threatening to shoot the general manager, was arrested by armed police, a court heard yesterday.

Brian McCrindle Johnston, 55, waved a handgun about shouting that he was going to shoot the man - but left when he was told he was on holiday.

A Cleveland Police armed response unit was waiting outside Decorcast in Middlesbrough after being alerted by the taxi driver who had driven him to the site, said Richard Parsell, prosecuting.

Johnston had showed the driver a gun, which was a replica Walther P99, and said he was going to shoot someone.

He told police that he was bitter after losing his job two years earlier in a management changeover.

He had always been industrious and hardworking but fell into depression and began drinking to excess, said Paul Cleasby, defending.

Judge John Walford told Johnston at Teesside Crown Court: "The possession of a firearm in a public place even an imitation, is a serious matter, particularly when a feckless and unlawful resort to firearms at the drop of a hat."

Johnston, of Rochdale Road, Red House Estate, Sunderland, was given an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with a supervision order after he admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, on May 15.