Mansfield man threatened to shoot woman with BB gun and caused real terror

Fred Imri made the threat with someone else’s BB gun on December 3, 2022, but denied it happened when police interviewed him afterwards, said Lucky Thandi, prosecuting.

Simon Eckersley, mitigating, said Imri, who has no previous convictions, has a “complex” psychological history and finds it difficult to talk to people.

Imri, aged 20, of First Avenue, Forest Town, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence at a previous hearing.

“Do please understand that the lady you threatened did not, and could not, know the firearm was an imitation,” Jude Michael Auty KC told him on Wednesday. “Her terror was very real.

"On the other side of the coin you have never been before a court. You have many traits of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

"It would take something like three years on the NHS at the moment to get that diagnosis, but I am confident it's a condition from which you almost certainly suffer.”

He warned Imri the courts “will run out of patience with you swiftly” if he repeats this behaviour, adding: “If there is a next time there will be no alternative but to lock you up. This is likely to be your first and final chance, so please grasp it.”

He imposed a 12 month community order with 25 rehabilitation activity days and made a restraining order, banning Imri from contacting the woman he threatened, for ten years.