POLICE on patrol in Burnley saw a man pointing a handgun through the window of a house.

Blackburn magistrates heard when he became aware of the police Adrian John Preston pushed the weapon through the letterbox and he later claimed it belonged to the people inside the property.

Preston, 37, of Ravens Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm, an air pistol, and possessing a knife in a public place. He was jailed for 26 weeks.

Leigh Morgan, prosecuting, said police saw Preston behaving aggressively outside a house on Hobart Street at 2.40pm. He was shouting and banging on the window and then took the weapon out of his pocket and pointed it at the window.

“When he became aware of the police he pushed the air pistol through the letterbox,” said Ms Morgan.

“The occupants were spoken to and they confirmed they were terrified of him and refused to make statements.”

Sardar Asghar, defending, said the complainants were friends and associates of the defendant.

“He believed they had broken into the address where he was living at the time,” said Mr Asghar.

“They had caused a lot of damage in the property and they left this air pistol.

"He accepts he was angry they had ransacked his property.”

Mr Asghar said the air pistol wasn’t loaded and didn’t work and the occupants of the house were aware of both these facts.

He said the knife found in his client's possession was used when he was fishing and to remove fleas from his dog.