Bristol man jailed after using imitation firearm in a takeaway
31-year-old Sam Norfolk pleaded guilty to three offences following the incident in May
A man has been jailed after showing the handle of a fake gun at a Bristol takeaway.
Sam Norfolk, from Florence Park in the city, pleaded guilty to three offences earlier this month following the incident in May, when two customers tried to intervene after he was verbally aggressive to the business owner.
It happened on May 7 at a business on the Clifton Triangle.
At approximately 20:20 that night, he ordered food and then became verbally aggressive to the business owner.
Two other customers, who didn't know him, intervened, and asked Norfolk to stop swearing, at which the point he punched one of them to the face and chased after them, grabbing the second by their legs.
Neither of the two customers suffered any significant physical injury - but did run away from the scene.
After they ran away, Norfolk turned back to the business owner, lifted his t-shirt and revealed the handle of what appeared to be a firearm.
That happened before he launched a chair at the business owner.
Norfolk then ran away after the police were called to the scene - but he was later identified by the force, and arrested.
During a search of his property, two imitation firearms were found and seized.
He then pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an imitation firearm with cause of fear of violence and two charges of assault by beating and received an 18-month sentence at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday 12 October.
Officer in the case PC Anna Firman said: "Fortunately nobody sustained any significant physical injuries in this incident, but it would undoubtedly have been an extremely distressing one for those victims who were attacked.
"Norfolk knew exactly what he was doing when lifting his T-shirt, he wanted people to think he had a gun on him. They would not have been aware it was only an imitation weapon at that moment in time.
"We welcome the fact he has received a custodial sentence."