Last updated at 15:24, Thursday, 10 May 2012

A BARROW man who pointed an air rifle at someone’s head has since taken steps to avoid “blowing up” if things go wrong, a court heard.

When a judge deferred sentencing for four months, Daniel Adams stayed out of trouble and took support from family and friends.

He had earlier got himself arrested over the firearm incident, after pointing the gun at a man who turned up at his home and was said to have threatened him with violence.

The 25-year-old was given 30 weeks’ jail, suspended for 14 months, with six months of supervision and an order to do 140 hours of unpaid work when he appeared back at Preston Crown Court.

At an earlier hearing, Adams was said to have reached “the end of his tether” when he grabbed a .22 air rifle from inside his Lord Street home and pointed it at a man called James Backhouse.

He had allegedly turned up shouting on Adams’ doorstep and threatening to “batter him.’’

Adams had pleaded guilty to an offence of possessing an air rifle with intent to cause fear of violence, relating to the incident on July 7 last year.

At the time, Mr Backhouse was said to have feared for his safety. He thought he would be shot because Adams looked ready to fire the weapon.

The defendant had no previous convictions.

He had been described as having “bottled things up” before eventually losing his temper. Mr Jacob Dyer, defending, told the deferred sentencing hearing that there had been no offences since then.

Neither had there been any breaches of the peace.

Mr Dyer added: “There has been no difficulty there.

“He has seen Mr Backhouse. They have been civil with each other with no difficulty at all.”

Judge Graham Knowles QC told Adams: “Whether you go to prison depends on how you behave in the future.

“I am very pleased things have turned out as they have.

“I’m pleased to read you have taken support from family and friends and you are using methods to avoid blowing up when things go wrong.’’

First published at 13:31, Thursday, 10 May 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk