A COLLEGE student jailed for shooting an air pistol in Manchester City Centre has had his sentence halved.

Peter Shuff, aged 18, of Leigh Road, Boothstown, had claimed he was bored and fired the gun as he waited for a bus.

Last Wednesday Shuff had his sentence of six months detention reduced to three months at the Appeal Court in London.

Three judges agreed Shuff's actions had been "extraordinarily crass" committed by an intelligent teenager in a city where there was concern about guns and which had provoked a response by armed police.

But they said there were mitigating circumstances including his guilty plea and previous good character.

Sentencing Shuff last month a Manchester Crown Court judge said guns were the "scourge" on the city's streets and the teenager's actions were likely to have caused fear or even terror.

He had pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear or violence.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey sitting with Lord Justice Kennedy and Mrs Justice Simon at the Appeal Court, rejected a submission that Shuff should receive a community penalty but halved his six month's detention instead.

The court was told Shuff was seen at a bus stop in Bridge Street, near Manchester Crown Court, just before 7pm on September 1 last year.

"He was waving and firing what appeared to be a gun, pointing it indiscriminately at objects and people," said Mr Justice Penry-Davey. "That continued for several minutes until armed police arrived and told him to lie on the ground, searched him and found a handgun in his back pocket."

The weapon was an air pistol which, the judge said, was designed to look like a self-loading pistol.

Shuff told police he had been with a friend at the bus stop and having got "a bit bored" took out the gun and started firing to see how far the pellets could go.