Man jailed for gun threats to bobby

5:50pm Friday 5th September 2008

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A PADGATE man who threatened to kill a police officer with an imitation gun has been jailed for two years.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday how Justin O’Regan pointed a BB gun at PC Simon Miles on July 24 after the officer had been called out to deal with a disturbance at the family home in Vulcan Close.

O’Regan, who was aged 19 at the time of the incident, had been drinking all day before returning home in the early evening.

He became increasingly aggressive, stabbing his mother in the arm with a fork before damaging property and punching a hole in a door.

O’Regan’s fearful mother and younger sister called the police but the situation escalated when PC Miles arrived.

The defendant produced the gun and pointed it at PC Miles in the living room.

He ordered the officer out of the house but when PC Miles agreed to leave, Mr O’Regan instead ordered him to ‘get into the kitchen or I’ll kill you’.

O’Regan then ran off, throwing the gun into bushes before being arrested by police called to assist at the scene.

“The officer did fear for his life and, to him, the gun appeared real,” said Joanne Parsons, prosecuting.

“The whole incident lasted for around three minutes and during that period he feared he would be shot.”

Simon Berkson, representing O’Regan, said his client, who pleaded guilty, had no previous convictions and the likelihood of reconviction was low.

He said that the defendant had been trying to rectify his drink problem.

He added: “It is likely that, had he not been drinking at all, none of this would have happened.”

Mr Berkson went on to say that the defendant was not fully prepared for what a spell behind bars would be like – Mr O’Regan’s mother had baked a cake to take with him.

Sentencing O’Regan to two years in jail for possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence as well as criminal damage, Judge Thomas Teague said: “I don’t consider that you pose a serious risk of significant harm to the public, but this offence is an extremely serious one.

“Had you been over 21, with a significant number of criminal convictions, you would be looking at a sentence of a considerable number of years.”