A MAN who fired a spear-gun at a neighbour following a violent row has been jailed for almost four years.

Paul Thornhill was already on bail after he was arrested for carrying the weapon in the street when he fired the spear at his victim before hitting him on the back of the head with the butt of the gun in a ‘cowardly’ act.

The 49-year-old armed himself with the weapon after getting into an argument with a man in Redcar, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Thornhill went into his then-home in Redcar on February 1, 2020, to pick up the gas-powered spear-gun, Recorder Jo Kidd said.

Sentencing him to a total of 46 months, the judge said: “When you got home on that particular morning there was a verbal disagreement but your response to that was extremely volatile and you made a deliberate, conscious decision to go back into your home and arm yourself with the spear-gun.

“You deliberately discharged it at a man. Thankfully, he didn’t receive any injury.”

The Northern Echo: Paul ThornhillPaul Thornhill

The judge added: “You then used the butt of the weapon to strike him to the back of the head – which on any view, was a cowardly act.”

The court heard how Thornhill suffered a significant brain injury in 2016 but it played no part in his behaviour that day.

A psychiatrist who examined Thornhill said that his time in prison would be more difficult because of his brain injury but ruled out it contributing to his offending.

Recorder Kidd said Thornhill’s initial arrest, on August 13, 2019, was carried out by British Transport Police for carrying a speargun at Redcar Railway Station but it was never made clear how his behaviour had attracted the attention of the officers.

Thornhill, of Slake Terrace, Hartlepool, was found guilty of possession of a firearm, possession of a blade in a public place, attempt to wound someone with an offensive weapon, and possession of a class B drug.

Martin Scarborough, in mitigation, said that references from Thornhill's family and friends described him as kind and helpful.

Thornhill was also made subject of a five-year restraining order to keep him out of Broadway West, Dormanstown, near Redcar, to prevent him approaching two named men.

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