Released Bilston killer locked up again after pointing imitation shotgun at policeman

Marvin Walker was trying to escape from the officer after being caught riding a moped on the footpath, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The 27-year-old was on licence following his release from a seven-and-a-half year sentence for the manslaughter of 16-year-old Shane Owoo in 2007, who was drowned in a Bilston pool.

Walker and a friend were spotted by police riding mopeds on the pavement in Elizabeth Avenue, Goldthorn Hill on July 18.

He pointed the imitation gun at an officer who tried to stop him fleeing from the scene.

But Walker had dumped the moped he had been riding before running off and was traced a month later after his fingerprints were discovered on the abandoned machine, said Mrs Ruck.

The weapon was never found, but a mobile phone recovered at the home of the defendant's girlfriend when he was arrested at the address had a string of photos on it showing a man with a shotgun, it was said. Police experts were unable to tell if it was a real gun or an imitation and the face of the person or people in the pictures were not visible.

Mr Stephen Blower, representing Walker, said: "The photos on the phone were not taken by him. It was not his phone and he was not the person in the pictures. He is just a young man in the grip of terminal drift."

Walker from Cedar Grove, Bilston admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed by Judge Nicholas Webb who told him: "You and your mate were using mopeds on footpaths where you should not have done. Your response to the police was out of all proportion. So you could get away, you held the gun in both hands and pointed it at the officer, who must have felt petrified."

Weak swimmer Shane Owoo was marched into the Lunt Pool in Bilston in September 2007 where he drowned after being pelted with stones and thrown into nettles in a row over a mountain bike.

Walker and Christopher Lewis, who punched the youngster and laughed as he floundered in the water, were initially sentenced to five-and-a-half years after admitting manslaughter but this was later increased on appeal.