Hartlepool man who fired speargun at man after an argument is jailed

Paul Thornhill, 49, armed himself with the air-powered device used by divers and fired it at another man after a violent argument in Dormanstown, near Redcar, on February 1, 2020.

Thornhill was on bail at the time having previously been arrested by British Transport Police for carrying a speargun at Redcar Railway Station on August 13, 2019.

The judge who sentenced him at Teesside Crown Court said Thornhill's response to the later incident was "extremely volatile" after he went to a nearby house to get the speargun.

Recorder Jo Kidd told him: “You deliberately discharged it at a man."

Fortunately the spear missed, said prosecutor Shaun Dryden.

A psychiatrist who examined Thornhill said that his time in prison would be more difficult because of brain injuries he suffered in an accident in 2016.

But the injuries had not contributed to his behaviour in the two speargun incidents, the court heard.

Martin Scarborough, defending, said that references from Thornhill's family and friends described him as kind and helpful.

Thornhill, of Slake Terrace, Hartlepool, was jailed for 46 months after he was found guilty at a trial of possession of a speargun firearm in a public place on August 13, 2019, threatening behaviour with an offensive weapon, possession of it with intent to cause fear of violence on causing actual bodily harm on February 1, 2020.

He was also given a five-year restraining order banning him from Broadway West, Dormanstown, and from contacting two named men.

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