Man fired replica pistol into crowd in Corby pub beer garden in revenge attack

A man fired a starting pistol he’d painted to look like a real gun into a crowd of pub-goers which included children.

Jack James Sikora cycled calmly up to the pub before discharging the modified weapon. Drinkers sprinted away from the scene during the incident outside The Phoenix in Beanfield Avenue.

Then a group of men chased the ‘gunman’, brought him to the ground and wrenched the imitation firearm off him.

Northampton Crown Court was shown horrifying CCTV footage of the incident during a sentencing hearing on Friday (April 1).

His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo heard how the pub garden had been busy during the spring evening on April 17 last year.

Footage showed a boy holding a football while families enjoying the warm weather chatted outside.

But at just after 8pm, there was a scuffle between a group of men in their 20s – which included Sikora – and a second group in their 30s and 40s at the side of the pub.

It ended after a punch was landed and the groups split.

But Sikora, 20, went home, got changed into a jacket, balaclava and gloves and borrowed a friend’s bike. Minutes later, at 8.21pm, he slowly cycled into the car park from Beanfield Avenue with a starting pistol he’d bought on the internet, spray painted black, loaded with blanks.

Witnesses had later told police they’d heard the defendant shout an obscenity at the beer garden before get their attention, before firing the gun two or three times.

People in the garden got down on the ground or fled the scene. The young boy, still holding his football could be seen sprinting away from the pub.

In a witness statement, landlady Lorraine McKimmie said she had been shocked by the sound of gunfire and dropped the tray of drinks she was carrying.

"I was sick to the stomach,” she said.

"I was worried about my staff and customers.”

As Sikora, of Thoresby Court, cycled towards flats in Wedmore Court, the brave group of men who he’d earlier been in confrontation with ran towards him and he again pulled the Bruni Mod 92 8mm starting pistol from his waistband and began waving it around.

One of them punched Sikora and he fell to the ground, shouting ‘Give it a week and I’ll be back and you’ll be f***** getting it’. He was spitting blood from the cut on his face at the men who restrained him until officer PC Vince Bangs arrived on the scene and recovered the firearm.

After a trip to hospital, Sikora admitted the crimes in police interview and told officers the gun had originally been orange but he’d sprayed it to make it look more realistic.

He told officers he’d fired the weapon to scare those in the garden as revenge for the earlier incident.

In court, Sikora admitted possession of a firearm with intent to cause violence and of modifying an imitation firearm to make it look realistic.

In mitigation, the court heard Sikora had no previous convictions and had stayed out of trouble for the past year.

His barrister Jasvir Mann said: “This crosses the custody threshold by 100 miles.”

But he added that there was enough mitigation to keep his client out of jail.

"This is a young man who doesn’t need to go into immediate custody but he’s on a precipice,” he said.

"He’s come to court today with a trolley bag thinking the worst.

"These proceedings have had a salutary impact on the life of this young man.”

Judge Mayo said: “There were lots of folk around, including children.

"The response (to your actions) was fear because it looked like there was a gunman cycling towards them.. firing at them and they feared for their lives.

"You acknowledge that you were taking benzodiazepine and were drinking and your life had lost focus.

"I’ve no doubt what you did merits a custodial sentence, even though you have no previous convictions.

“People who fire guns into pub gardens go to prison.”

He said the starting point was two years in custody with a range of one to four years but because Sikora had pleaded guilty he would give him a 14 month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months. He will also have to undertake 30 rehabilitation requirement days and be subject to GPS monitoring for three months which will allow probation officers to see where he has been.

Judy Mayo added: “I want the people of Corby to understand just how serious firing a gun in a car park is.

"I am not responsible for your welfare but I have brought up four children and if you were one of mine I’d say the best thing you can do is to get a job or volunteer somewhere.

"Give it a try. It gives you some purpose in life.”

He said he will review the sentence in six months and ordered Sikora to appear before the court at that point so he can assess his progress.

The ownership of a starting pistol is not illegal, but altering it in order to make it fire real ammunition, or to make it look like it fires ammunition, is an offence. The model that Sikora was carrying can be bought online by over-18s for under £100 with no checks. It is marketed as being a ‘realistic’ replica of a Beretta M92 and having a ‘louder noise’ than other guns.