Somercotes man shot young mum in the leg and threatened teenager with a knife

Ashley Barnsley got into a row with the woman about her partner at her home in the Ironville area and fired the BB gun twice at the door of her property, and then a third time, striking her in her thigh, Nottingham Crown Court was told on Thursday, January 7.

Following the incident, where the woman’s six-year-old autistic daughter was present, in November 2018, the 22-year-old was arrested but refused to answer police questions.

The following April, Barnsley, of Windmill Rise, Somercotes, followed a teenager into the youth club and threatened to stab him with a Stanley knife, and also made threats to another teen.

Speaking about the first offence, prosecution barrister Leanne Summers told the court: “She had known the defendant for about a year and had no problems with him until the day in question, when he started speaking negatively about her partner and threatened to assault him.

“She walked past him and he pushed him and she pushed him back, and there was a minor scuffle. She got to her front door and she noticed that the defendant had followed her. He said, ‘Watch this then’, and he raised a pistol and fired it at the front door, then fired it at the door a second time.

“He then fired it a third time, hitting her in the thigh and causing immediate pain. He then ran away and she went inside and said to her partner, ‘He’s just f****** shot me’.”

In the April incident, Barnsley had stared out the teenager as he made his way to the youth club with a friend, and later entered the building and made threats that he was going to stab him, Ms Summers told the court.

Barnsley had admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a bladed article due to recklessness at an earlier hearing.

Mitigating, Sue Rodham told the court: “He has changed his life since these two incidents, with one of them over two years ago and the other approaching two years.

“At the time he was homeless and was struggling with his mental health.

“He is now in a relationship with a woman and is living with her and her three children. She is slightly older and has a calming influence on him.”

Barnsley was given a total of 82 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and placed on an electronically monitored curfew for the next three months.

Sentencing him, Recorder Mary Prior QC said: “You lost your temper and you fired a BB gun in an area where someone could have been injured, and it could have been a lot worse. You then went into a youth club with a knife and threatened to stab a young man and threatened another. If you commit any further offences such as these ones, you will most likely go to prison.”

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