Man retrieved imitation gun after TikTok prank

Judge David Evans said the TikTok practical joke was a "a piece of rather juvenile stupidity"

A group of teenagers who filmed themselves playing a TikTok prank on a stranger feared for their lives after they were threatened with an imitation gun, a court has heard.

Exeter Crown Court was shown footage of the group repeatedly saying "you don't scare me" to 52-year-old Jason Willetts as he walked past them in May 2022.

Mr Willetts' reaction was to go to his home in Tiverton, Devon, to collect an imitation handgun before threatening the group with it.

He was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, after he admitted two charges of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Victims were 'petrified'

Judge David Evans said the TikTok practical joke was a "a piece of rather juvenile stupidity" but the teenagers were not aggressive, frightening or intimidating.

The court heard the victims saw their "lives flashing before them" and were left "petrified" as they believed their lives were at risk.

Judge Evans said Willetts, now of Lapford, Devon, may have felt "humiliated or belittled".

"You frightened the life out of them, they thought you were going to kill them," he said.

Barrister Evie Dean, defending, said Willetts going away to get his gun and returning was "completely inexcusable".

The judge did ordered the imitation gun be destroyed.