A TALENTED teenager’s troubled past came back to haunt him yesterday when he was jailed for 16 months for “two or three minutes of absolute madness”.

Michael Downs was said to have turned his life around after moving from Teesside to County Durham after his latest brush with the law.

In April, Downs got drunk, pulled out an air pistol and threatened to shoot an innocent man as he walked past him and a friend in Pentland Avenue, Billingham.

Passer-by Robert Mossop, 51, said he feared for his life when he heard the gun being fired behind his back.

Downs and his friend were arrested 90 minutes later after customers in the Billingham Arms pub called police to say they had seen two youths with a weapon.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Downs first got into trouble when he was 12, and has since racked up convictions for drugs, attempted burglary and assault.

His barrister, Duncan McReddie, told the court that Downs, now 19, acted in a way he would not ordinarily have done to gain kudos.

Mr McReddie said the teenager has been “on the right track” since swapping Billingham for Seaham, and has given up alcohol and cannabis.

Downs has enrolled on a college course, been accepted at a football academy and kept out of trouble, said Mr McReddie.

Mr McReddie invited the judge to consider a suspended sentence, adding: “I feel obliged to urge it because of his youth and his promise in academic and sporting terms – marred by two or three minutes of absolute madness.”

Downs, of Mappleton Drive, Seaham, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and having an imitation firearm in public.

Judge Crowson told him: “I very much hope the opportunities which have been available to you will be available to you after the sentence I am afraid I have to impose upon you.”

The court heard that the air gun was capable of firing ballbearings, darts and pellets and an expert said it had the same appearance as a 9mm self-loading pistol.