Thug of 16 pulls 'gun' on disabled woman… but isn't locked up

Thug of 16 pulls ‘gun’ on disabled woman… but isn’t locked up: Teenager is spared jail after taunting victim in the street with a firearm

• Teen pulled out a BB gun and ‘started to shoot’ at disabled woman and her friend
• The terrifying incident happened in the Talbot and Brunswick area of Blackpool
• Youngsters in the neighbourhood are terrorising residents, a local MP has said
• The boy was spared prison when he appeared at a youth court in September 

A teenage thug who taunted a disabled woman in the street before brandishing a firearm and pulling the trigger has been spared jail.

The brazen 16-year-old was among a group of youngsters who hurled abuse at the ‘very vulnerable’ woman, disparaging her race and disability.

He then pulled out a ball- bearing (BB) gun, pointed it at the ‘frightened and shocked’ woman and her female friend and ‘started to shoot’.

The terrifying confrontation happened in the Talbot and Brunswick neighbourhood of Blackpool, an area plagued by gangs of feral youths.

Last month, Blackpool South Tory MP Scott Benton told the House of Commons that youngsters had been responsible for ‘hundreds of crimes’ there and that a boy of 11 was one of the ringleaders of the crime spree.

Mr Benton said of a court’s decision not to jail the BB gun-wielding youth: ‘This demonstrates everything that is wrong with our country.’

On Thursday, the delinquent appeared at Blackpool Youth Court with his father and pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour and possession of a firearm on September 12.

CCTV caught the moment the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pulled a ball-bearing (BB) gun on a disabled woman and her friend in Blackpool

The thug received a 12-month referral order after pleading guilty to threatening behaviour and possession of a firearm

The abusive attack was recorded as a hate crime because of the offensive language used in relation to the race and disability of one of the victims, the court heard.

Magistrates acknowledged that although the weapon was a BB gun, the incident ‘could have had serious consequences’. A six-year-old boy was killed by such a weapon in 2018.

But the court spared the teen a custodial sentence after hearing his apology, along with details of how his mother was ill and how he had started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer.

The court heard he had no previous convictions but has been ‘reprimanded’ for minor incidents. He received a 12-month referral order, during which he will have ‘intensive’ social services supervision

Walking out of court with his back to the bench, the boy appeared to smirk at his father. A friend of the victims said: ‘It’s diabolical he’s been let off. Our society is just too soft.’

The boy was with ‘eight to ten other youths messing about and having a smoke’ before the incident, the court heard. Elizabeth Hayton, prosecuting, said: ‘The boys started to be horrible to (one of the women). One of the boys pulled out the gun and pointed it (at the women). He then started to shoot.’

The weapon is not believed to have been loaded and no bullets were discharged.

The teen taunted the woman and her friend and ‘started to shoot’ it at the pair in broad daylight

CCTV footage, seen by magistrates, showed the boy –who cannot be named for legal reasons – pulling out the BB gun then pointing it at the women.

Sue Mugford, defending, urged the court to avoid handing the youth a jail sentence, claiming her client was being ‘influenced’ by other youths.

She said the BB gun didn’t belong to him and he’d been ‘with other boys just messing around’, adding: ‘He is remorseful, he didn’t realise his actions would cause those ladies distress.’

Asked why he shouldn’t be sent to jail, the boy said: ‘I’m sorry for doing it. It seemed like a joke at the time’.

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