A MAN who was once accused of pointing an imitation gun at the head of his ex-partner’s teenage son has had his appeal against the police’s refusal to re-instate his shotgun licence rejected by a judge.

Unemployed Simon Matthew Lavery, 27, of Barnoldswick, had argued that he needed the licence to get a job as a gunsmith but has instead been left with a bill of £4,600 in prosecution costs.

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Lavery was found not guilty of making a threat to kill and possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence in relation to his ex-partner Catherine Laycock, then 44, and her son Jack, then 19, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Those incidents were alleged to have taken place in Barnoldswick on June 27, 2010.

But Lavery was convicted of possessing ammunition without a certificate.

That was in relation to 15 rounds of ammunition found in a coat pocket at his former home in Hollins Road, Barnoldswick.

In the aftermath of the incident Lavery had his shotgun and firearm licences revoked by the police.

When cross-examined by Giles Grant, for Lancashire police, Lavery, who represented himself, admitted that he had sometimes forgot to put ammunition in one of his locked cabinets but said there was nothing in the Home Office Guidelines which said you had to do so.

He also claimed that he sent Ms Laycock a text message threatening to kill her son before the alleged incident in 2010 “in jest” and he had been assaulted three times by different people before going to her house. He told the court he had been “eight out of 10” on the drunk scale and “wasn’t thinking straight”prior to going to his ex-partner’s house. He also said he was only going around to talk to Ms Laycock to find out why there was so much animosity between them and why he had allegedly been attacked. He denied having possession of an imitation handgun and pointing it at Mr Laycock.

But firearms officer, Chief Insp Damian Kitchen, said even Lavery’s version of events did not present the behaviour of a responsible shotgun or firearms licence owner.

The court was also told about an incident outside Burnley Football Club in 2012 where Lavery was alleged to have pushed a friend of his wife into the road. Police took no further action against him at the time and Lavery said he was acting in self-defence.

Recorder Nicholas Clarke, who said the appeal was a civil case so the court did not need the criminal standard of proof, told Lavery that he had not done enough to convince him that re-instating his licence would not present a danger to the public or the peace.

He said: “Our overall view is that guns and ammunition are a lethal combination. We can’t take a risk with public safety in this regard.”

Speaking after the case, Chf Insp Kitchen, said: “It doesn’t give us any pleasure to take away people’s firearms but ultimately the protection of the wider public and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals has to be our primary responsibility.”