This is Derbyshire --A TEENAGER has been locked up for waving around an imitation pistol after telling his girlfriend: ''I'll chop your head off.''
A court heard that the incident ended when armed police halted a car and found a cigarette lighter which looked like a Baretta semi-automatic pistol.
Muddaser Zarif, 19, had waved the item after arguing with the girl over a ring which he wanted back.
In a phone call, he made the threat about cutting off her head, said Chris Lowe, prosecuting, before he arrived at her Derby home with other men in a car.
Zarif pulled the imitation gun out of his waistband when a man refused to come out of the house on October 24, Derby Crown Court heard. He threatened to shoot the man but threw the item into a hedge in the front garden before leaving.
Recorder Edward Hess, sent Zarif, of Osmaston Park Road, Derby, to a youth offenders' institute for 18 months. Zarif admitted having an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
The recorder told him: ''I have seen the gun and it looks very realistic. I accept you threw it down but you should never have had it in the first place. It is a serious offence, partly because of the effect it has on people – the terror they must go through.
''They don't know it is only an imitation firearm. It must have been terrifying.'' He ordered it to be destroyed.
Steve Gosnell, in mitigation, said he accepted it was realistic but it was never capable of even firing pellets. He said: ''He produced it and he waved it around. What is noticeable is this gun was not pointed at her.
''What he did was stupid and then he tosses it into a hedge,'' said Mr Gosnell.
The offence was ''out of character'' for Zarif, he added. ''If someone walks around the streets with a weapon – even if it is a cigarette lighter – the chances are an armed response unit will be asked to attend.''
After the case, Detective Constable Tarj Nizzer said the incident started as a domestic dispute and added: ''We will not tolerate this kind of offence. This reinforces the Derbyshire Constabulary policy to take positive action on all domestic disputes.'' Reported by This is 11 hours ago.