A CLUB-GOER has persuaded a judge to give him a chance after he was caught with an air pistol late at night.

York Crown Court heard door staff spotted Lubos Filek with a 4.5 mm calibre Beeman model P17 (2004) in The Square Bar in Selby at 3.44am on Saturday, January 10.

Lubos Filek’s lawyers told the crown court and the magistrates court gun law is different in his native Slovakia. He had bought the weapon that evening and had been on his way home with it when he went into the night club.

Filek, 36, of Chandlers, The Waterfront, Selby, pleaded guilty to having an imitation firearm in a public place and was given a sixmonth prison sentence suspended for two years on condition he does 100 hours’ unpaid work.

Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, asked probation officers to find out if he had a drink problem after hearing he had three drink-driving convictions and had breached a court order in the past.

After reading the probation report, he decided to suspend the prison sentence.