Brinsley: Man who shot blank-firing gun from car jailed

Samuel Kelham, 34, fired the blank gun from the window of a parked car

A man who filmed himself while shooting a blank-firing gun from a car has been jailed.

Police said Samuel Kelham stormed out of his home in Cherry Tree Close, Brinsley, Nottinghamshire, on 15 June and fired the weapon on the driveway.

He later recorded a social media video of himself shooting the gun out of the open window of a parked vehicle.

On Friday, Kelham, 34, was jailed for two years and eight months for the offence as well as a serious assault.

Nottinghamshire Police said he was arrested by armed police after being tracked by a police dog to nearby farmland.

Officers later recovered two 9mm cartridge casings - one in the footwell of his car and the other at the scene in the garden of a property in Cherry Tree Close.

A box of blank firing ammunition was also found inside the address, along with a small amount of cocaine.

'Recklessness'

At Nottingham Crown Court Kelham pleaded guilty to possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence on the basis that he at no time wanted to cause fear to the general public, only intending for police officers to see the weapon.

He also admitted to possessing Class A drugs and to charges of possessing a firearm and ammunition while on a suspended prison sentence.

Det Con Christopher Archer, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Kelham displayed an appalling level of recklessness when he committed these offences.

"This may have been a blank-firing weapon, but it certainly would have looked and sounded like a lethal weapon to anyone who saw what happened."

Kelham was also jailed for his part in a serious assault in Portland Street, Selston, in the early hours of 11 December 2022.

He pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm without intent.