Jail term for gunman who shot at constable

Neil Warelow, 36, fired a gun three times at Pc David Kennedy's car when he parked outside his home during a family shopping trip.

Warelow, who has no previous convictions, cried as he was jailed at Hull Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Recorder of Hull and the East Riding Judge Michael Mettyear told him: "You acted wholly out of proportion and irrationally over what was a very minor incident of somebody parking in a way you thought was inappropriate.

"You lost your head. I guess it's an example of how the stresses of modern life can get to some people and you then reacted in a wholly out of character way.

"You were angry, you were gesticulating out of a window towards the car.

"You then produced this imitation firearm and pointed it towards the car.

"It was a very realistic gun and even the officer, who has had firearms experience, thought it was real.

"People do act irrationally but the worry and danger and fear created by guns are of great concern to the courts and the public."

Pc Kennedy, 50, had parked outside Warelow's house in Hull, next door to a shop, where the family had gone.

There were four generations of the officer's family in the car when Warelow began firing the Huntington Beech G10 repeater .177 calibre airgun.

He drove his wife Elaine, granddaughter Chloe, six, and great-grandmother Dot Davis, away then returned to arrest Warelow.

Afterwards, Pc Kennedy said: "We were just quickly shopping for a brush when this mad man pointed a gun out of the window at us and started firing."

The shooting left pellets embedded in the officer's car and caused 150 damage.