A man has been jailed for three years after brandishing an imitation firearm in Ipswich – leading armed police to shoot him with a rubber bullet to apprehend him.
Terrie Forrest, 35, of Turret Road, Ipswich, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court today, Friday, October 27, having pleaded guilty to being in possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence at a previous hearing.
Prosecuting, Marcus Croskell said the incident happened on Thursday, July 20, in Grimwade Street.
“Members of the public reported an individual being in possession of a firearm noting he was heavily intoxicated,” he said.
“He was effectively brandishing and waving a gun around.
“Police attended and found him in St Clements churchyard.”
Mr Croskell said when armed police officers approached Forrest he started walking towards them.
“They told him to drop the gun, he said. “Then he jerked the gun up twice resulting in officers firing a baton round at he defendant. He was then taken down and arrested.”
He said Forrest had been ‘drinking since breakfast’ that day and had shared three bottles of vodka with friends.
In mitigation, Neil Saunders said Forrest did not remember much about what happened but had quickly apologised when he was questioned by police.
Mr Croskell added that Forrest was in breach of a 37 week prison sentence, suspended for two years, after being convicted of a variety of offences in the past two years including taking a 12 inch knife into the accident and emergency department of Ipswich Hospital.
Judge Rupert Overbury sentenced Forrest to two and a half years for the firearm offence and a six month consecutive jail term for breaching the suspended sentence.
He said: “This is a substantial escalation of your offending behaviour I have watched the DVDs of CCTV and it is clear to me that you knew what you were doing despite having drunk a considerable amount.
“You were in possession of this imitation firearm in public for some time, pointing at other people. The real seriousness of your offending was when finally police were involved. Despite their orders for you to drop to the ground the circumstances forced officers to shoot you with a rubber bullet to incapacitate you.”
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