A MAN who was seen with an imitation pistol got a shock when armed police apprehended him, a court heard yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Mark Mount, 26, had been riding his scooter with the gun between his legs when he was seen by undercover officers.

Later, when Cleveland Police mounted a firearms operation on his house, he had the gun on display on a cabinet.

Neil Clark, prosecuting, said the undercover officers were on duty in Belk Street, Middlesbrough, when they saw a man riding a scooter and brandishing the gun.

Three days later, police mounted a firearms operation on a garage behind Albert Terrace, Middlesbrough, and arrested Mount.

They went to his home where they found the Heckler and Koch gun in his back bedroom.

They also found a legally held Remington shotgun capable of firing ball bearings.

Mount said in interview that he had bought the gun for £5 from two heroin addicts earlier in the week.

Mr Clark said: "He accepted that it looked real and that the police would feel concerned about it."

Jim Withyman, for Mount, said his client was taking the gun home when the police saw him.

He was within ten days of the end of a 12-month driving ban, which he thought was over.

Mount, of Barrington Crescent, Thorntree, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm on October 18, last year.

He was given a two-year community rehabilitation order with a Think First programme.

He was also banned from driving for six months after admitting driving while disqualified and without insurance.

The gun was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.