A MAN arrested by armed police after using a plastic toy pistol during a game of cowboys and Indians with his ten-year-old brother was cleared of a firearm offence yesterday.

It took the jury at Teesside Crown Court just 15 minutes to decide Stewart Philip Elve, 24, was not guilty of possessing an imitation firearm, causing a passer-by to fear for her safety.

The ten-year-old had been playing with the cap gun when older brother Mr Elve, of Minors Crescent, Darlington, arrived at Jedburgh Drive on October 20.

Judge Les Spittle said: "Like most older brothers, what did he do? He took it off him."

This, he said, started the pair playing army, cowboys and Indians and cops and robbers.

During the trial, Helen Finch, 30, said she was walking along Jedburgh Drive when she heard a loud crack and saw a man in a doorway pointing a gun at her. She said she then heard three loud cracks before the man said: "Bang, bang, you're dead."

She told the court she had been terrified and called the police. Mr Elve was later arrested in a nearby park by a police armed response squad.

Mr Elve insisted that he never saw a woman.

Defence barrister Stephen Ashurst criticised the way the police handled the case, adding that potential witnesses were not interviewed.

Last night, Mr Elve's mother, Sandra Jonas, said: "This was ridiculous. If the police had just asked the people around, they would have found out exactly what was happening - they were just playing."

And Mr Elve, a father-of-two, said: "I'm chuffed with the verdict. Maybe now I can get on with my life."