A TEENAGER who claimed he had a Tazer stun gun for his own protection has been sent behind bars for 12 months.
Christopher Martin Jones, 19, was seen coming from Wrexham's Liquid Nightclub where he worked. When police officers approached him they found the stun gun in the waist band of his trousers.
Jones of Heol Cadfan in Coedpoeth - who had a previous conviction for possessing an extendable baton which he had taken into Wrexham Magistrates Court - received 12 months youth detention.
Judge John Rogers QC, sitting at Mold Crown Court, said the maximum sentence for such offences was 10 years.
The judge told him that two-and-a-half years ago magistrates had given him unpaid work designed to help him, but he had disregarded that order, it had twice been breached and had still not been completed.
'Worse, you committed a more serious offence relating to another weapon. Only a custodial sentence is appropriate,' he said.
Brett Williamson, prosecuting, told how a police inspector was stopped by a number of youths in Brook Street last November 15.
They reported that a youth was in possession of a Tazer-style stun gun.
At that point, the inspector saw Jones appear from the nightclub, approached him, did a stop-search, and Jones told him the stun gun was in his waist band.
He told the officer: 'I have had a lot of trouble lately, it's to protect myself.'
Mr Williamson said that in his interview Jones said he would have used it if he had to and he had bought it for £45.
Matthew Corbett-Jones, defending, handed in a letter from the nightclub which said that, while they did not condone what Jones had done, he had always behaved responsibly in work and was reliable and well thought of.
He said Jones admitted what he had done at the first opportunity, did not use the weapon, and has no convictions for violence.
