Imitation firearm leads to five-week sentence
A man from Peel has been jailed after a toy gun he was carrying was mistaken for the real thing.
Sixty-one-year-old Mark Anthony Priestnal, of Marine Parade, pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm when he appeared before Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes.
The court heard how Priestnal had been in a car on 29 December when police pulled him over.
A special constable, who went to talk to him, spotted what he thought was a gun on his lap.
At first, Priestnal didn't realise the man was a police officer as he was in plain clothes – and his advocate told the court he couldn’t understand why the man seemed so worried.
Later, officers discovered the weapon was actually a toy James Bond gun Priestnal was taking to his grandchildren.
Mrs Hughes told him he’d been foolish to carry the toy and foolish in the extreme to keep it in his car.
She imposed a five-week prison sentence, meaning he was released from jail because he’d already served five weeks on remand.
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