Pointed gun at police officer

Sam Wesley, 22, was going through a crisis and is now prescribed anti-depressants, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

PC David Fletcher was called to Carlton Road on 10th February after Wesley was seen in an agitated state banging his head against the steering wheel of his car, said Laura Pitman, prosecuting on Friday.

Wesley walked away from the vehicle and swore at the officer when asked if he was okay. When the officer was about four metres away Wesley turned round to face him.

“He had a dark coloured handgun in his hand. He pointed it at the officer, who asked him to put it down,” said Miss Pitman.

Wesley did not respond immediately but then pointed the weapon at his own head.

The officer disarmed him. Wesley was crying and said it was an air pistol, adding ‘I wish I’d fired into my temple’.

He said his car had broken down and everything in his life was going wrong.

He had the gun because he had been rabbiting, he said. The court heard the pistol was not loaded.

Wesley’s barrister Martin Elwick accepted the officer must have been extremely fearful for his safety.

Wesley had been going through a psychiatric crisis but had made a remarkable change and was now working with his roofer father as a labourer. His guns had now gone and he was remorseful, the court heard.

The judge remanded Wesley in custody over lunch before sentencing him to four months suspended for two years.