Armed West Bromwich party gatecrasher is jailed

Alens Avakjans sent petrified revellers running for cover when he pointed the weapon over the fence guarding the back garden where they had been enjoying themselves, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Then the 26-year-old gunman, who was drunk and had just finished celebrating his engagement, fired the ball bearing compressed air gun into the ground two or three times, said Mr Antoine Muller, prosecuting.

The terrified family alerted police who sent a firearms unit to the scene on July 6.

Officers found Latvian-born Avakjans still holding the weapon in the street where he was Tasered and arrested.

The incident happened after Avakjans heard music coming from the back garden of the house in Lyttleton Street, West Bromwich, as he and his fiancee headed to their nearby home in The Sidings.

Avakjans had been drinking and knocked on the gate to the garden where the sound had come from, continued Mr Muller.

Ms Rhian Morgan, who opened the gate, told the court: “I had no idea who he was. He asked if we were having a party. He had just got engaged and wanted to join us.

"I told him no because I didn’t know who he was. I told him to go away but he continued trying to push my gate open.

"He kept saying he wanted to party. He was bare chested and you could tell he was drunk. I told him to go away but he continued trying to push my gate open. My son came and told him not to talk to me like that because he was shouting. We both swore at him and told him to go away."

Ms Rhian and her son denied telling him that he and his fiancee should go back to their own country, which the defendant and Ms Ancibora, who shot a video of part of the incident from outside their home, insisted had been said.

Avakjans then went home, collected the loaded gun from a safe and returned around 10 minutes later to point the gun over the fence.

Judge Jinder Singh Boora said he thought Ms Morgan became hostile too quickly to the unwanted caller.

Avakjans admitted possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed by the judge who told him: “The people at the party were utterly petrified and ran into the house when you showed the gun over the fence.”