Man hauled before the courts for pulling out taser at Sheffield pub in bid to ‘show off’

A man who left revellers ‘in fear’ when he pulled out a taser in a Sheffield pub has been hauled before the courts.
Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)
Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)

58-year-old Paul Lewis Brown was spending an evening with friends at the Birley Hotel in Frecheville on September 10 last year when he suddenly produced a taser he had bought on the Internet. 

Judge Roger Thomas QC told Sheffield Crown Court during a hearing held yesterday that Brown, of Delves Road, Hackenthorpe appeared to take out the taser to ‘show off’ to his friends.

Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)
Brown was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court yesterday (Friday, May 10)
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“Some of the people who were there took fright and were in fear. You were reported to the police, and they took it off you,” said Judge Thomas. 

 

 

While still under investigation for this matter, Brown committed a second weapons offence on November 22 last year, when he brandished an extendable baton at his daughter’s partner after getting into an argument with him. 

The court was told that Brown also bought the extendable baton online. 

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He was subsequently charged with two offences of possession of an offensive weapon which he pleaded guilty to at an earlier hearing. 

Summarising the evidence submitted on Brown’s behalf, Judge Thomas told the court that Brown has what he described as ‘low-level mental health problems which are exacerbated by his abuse of alcohol’. 

 

 

Judge Thomas sentenced Brown to a one-year community order, one condition of which is the completion of 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days. 

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He said: “You are 58, and have never been convicted of any criminal matter, but here you are in the Crown Court. Seemingly through the internet, you managed, for some reason difficult to understand what you were doing, to obtain a taser and extendable baton. 

“The taser you took down to a public house and were showing off with it.”

“If there is one problem you need to address, that’s your misuse of alcohol. You can’t pass it off by saying it’s a mental health issue. The probation service seems to think they can be useful in making an intervention in your life. And rather than sending you to prison, you can become engaged with the probation service.”