A man pulled out a toy gun in a kebab shop and threatened to shoot local pubgoers in a bizarre rampage in Bury, a court heard.
Jack Higson launched the tirade during a cocaine and lager binge after falling out with his girlfriend. The 28-year-old threatened to shoot punters in the New Grove pub in Whitefield after becoming embroiled in a 'who's the strongest' row, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
He threw a punch at a man as they 'compared muscles' and then threatened to blow up the pub with a gas cylinder. Higson then continued his rampage in the Bits 'n' Pizza takeaway where he was about to order a large doner kebab.
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He pulled a toy gun from his waistband, pointed it at a customer and told him 'give me the f*****g money'. He eventually fled empty handed after smashing a monitor from the till on the floor.
The dad-of-one was arrested later after staff at the takeaway called the police and gave them his name. It emerged he had got drunk with his friends after his girlfriend refused to accompany him home following a day out.
Lisa Boocock, prosecuting said: "On the evening of August 28 last year the defendant attended the New Grove pub in Whitefield in Bury with some friends. It is fair to say that by the time of the incident, he had consumed a large amount of alcohol and had also admitted to consuming a quantity of cocaine.
"He had got into an argument with another man in the pub regarding the defendant’s strength. This argument escalated and the defendant was visibly annoyed and began gesticulating wildly.
"As a friend tried to calm him down, the defendant tried to punch the man he was arguing with but fortunately missed in his intoxicated state. Whilst the defendant did not actually reveal the imitation firearm whilst inside the pub, he kept reaching for his waistband, where it was concealed, and even threatened to shoot the same man he was arguing with."
Ms Boocock added: "He then picked up a gas cylinder as he was standing next to the bar and threatened to blow up the pub. However, he was eventually ushered out of the exit to the pub garden and the cylinder was retrieved from him.
"Once outside in the pub garden, he picked up his pint glass in one hand and one of the garden chairs in the other. He threw the chair in a fit of rage and left the garden then made his way towards the Bits 'N' Pizza takeaway on Old Bury Road.
"He was a regular visitor to this takeaway and the staff members recognised him. He entered the takeaway and the members of the staff recognised his face straight away, as he made no effort to conceal it.
"However, another customer was also present in the shop and did not know the defendant. The defendant withdrew the imitation firearm from his waistband, held it up against the customer's nose and shouted 'give me the f*****g money, give me the till'.
"The customer responded by saying he has not got a till and that he didn't work there. Realising this, the defendant went behind the counter and threatens the staff with a similar demand 'give me the money'.
"After staff told him that they didn’t have keys to the till he pulled the monitor off from the top of the counter and threw it onto the floor before walking out of the shop. Members of staff called the police after he left."
The customer said they were left terrified after the incident. "I thought that this gun was real and for several weeks after I suffered serious anxiety attacks as a result of this", they said in a statement read to the court.
"I woke up every morning feeling anxious.”
Defending Higson, Adam White said: "This all started after the defendant got into an argument with his partner when she said she wasn’t coming back to the house with him. He then decided to go out drinking and taking cocaine with friends.
"It’s clear that he was not thinking at all about what he was doing when he took the imitation firearm from the back of his car. This was not a premeditated action and was not a sophisticated one by any means.
"His partner and five-year-old daughter are rightly concerned about what will happen as a result of his custodial sentence."
Higson, of Jackson Street, Whitefield, admitted affray, possession of an imitation firearm and attempted robbery. He was jailed for three years and two months at court yesterday (March 15).
Sentencing Higson, Judge Bernadette Baxter told him: "You refused to be placated after the argument and threatened to shoot someone inside your local pub. One would have expected you to have blown off steam and gone home after this but sadly things escalated.
"You have expressed no empathy at all towards the victim in the takeaway, thinking that they would just shrug it off and get on with it. Instead, the victim acted as normal people would have acted and was shocked at your actions."
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