Karl Powell made gun threat as he tried to seduce woman in Southampton club

High on drink and drugs, Karl Powell threatened to use the weapon he had tucked into the waistband of his trousers.

The drama began when the would-be chef saw Philippa Griffith on the dance floor of Junk nightclub in London Road and putting her hand on the waistband, told her: “If anyone talks to you, I’ll shoot them and shoot your face off.”

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the city crown court she was absolutely terrifed when she realised he was armed and went with him to the bar when he bought her a drink.

However, she managed to whisper a message to a friend and doorman Jason Harris came up behind, put his arms around his middle and realised he had a gun.

During a struggle, Powell turned and threatened him: “If you don’t let go, I’ll shoot you.”

The bouncer feared “this was it” and believed he was going to be shot. When a friend of Powell’s intervented, the doorman managed to pull the gun from his waistband. He was ejected from the premises and arrested by police.

The gun transpired to be a gaspropelled BB gun.

Powell, 27, of Oxford Avenue, admitted two counts of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed for four years.

Hearing he had two previous convictions for similar offences, Judge Hooton commented: “You have a fondness for frightening people with a gun. It wasn’t loaded but people around you in the bar thought it was a real gun and the girl was terrified.”

Matthew Jewell, defending, said Powell had been drinking and taken cocaine and could not remember what had happened.

“But he was brave enough to accept the evidence of others.

“He had removed the gun from someone else in his company earlier that evening. It must have been the worst and most misguided attempt to chat up a girl imaginable.

“The gun was never removed from his waistband and was in a plastic bag. It didn’t have any pellets or any gas in the canister, though he can now understand the fear people would have felt.”