Man fired catapult in busy pub

A PAINTER and decorator fired a potentially lethal ball-bearing at a man in a crowded Oldham pub, in revenge a court was told.

James Maggs (22) returned to the Boat and Horses pub in Chadderton wearing a ski mask, and armed with a catapult, after claiming he had been punched by a drinker there during a row shortly beforehand.

Amazingly nobody was hit by the missile, which he admitted had been deliberately fired at the person he had had problems with.

Maria Brennan prosecuting, said: “It was an idiotic, but potentially very dangerous act.”

She said Maggs, of Tudor Avenue, Chadderton, had left the pub after the earlier incident on March 5, but returned with the weapon and ammunition, and wearing the mask so he would not be recognised.

He fired just one shot into the pub which was extremely busy on a Saturday evening, and had been about to get into a waiting taxi when he was detained.

Police officers found 38 small metal ball-bearings in his pocket, when he was arrested.

He told them: “I don’t attack innocent people. I only did it because someone hit me.”

Maggs who pleaded guilty to being in possession of an offensive weapon, was made the subject of a nine-month probation order and was ordered to carry out 40 hours unpaid work in the community.

A weekend curfew for two months was imposed in addition, and Maggs, who has no previous convictions, was also ordered to pay £200 towards prosecution costs.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told that he had only bought the Black Widow catapult for £10 earlier the same day.

He said he had also bought 100 ball-bearings, and spent part of the day shooting at tin cans for fun.

He claimed to have hidden the catapult on a nearby canal bank before going into the Boat and Horses, and said he had gone back to retrieve it before returning to the pub.

The court was told that an emergency call was made to police who were told that either a stone or ball had been fired into the pub, and Maggs later said he was unsure whether he had actually hit anyone.

Sentencing him, judge Jonathan Foster QC, said: “This was a very peculiar incident, and I don’t find your explanation consistent or entirely satisfactory.”

He told him: “You are a man of previous good character, and though I am concerned about your behaviour, I don’t think it is a case that is deserving of prison.”